MediaWorks has apologised for a leak of the Reserve Bank's most recent announcement of the Official Cash Rate (OCR).
Last month, the RBNZ announced it was cutting the OCR by 0.25 to its lowest-ever rate of 2.25. The Reserve Bank says it has confirmed that "highly sensitive and valuable market information" was sent by a Newshub journalist from the lock-up before the official announcement was made. The lock-up allows reporters to process the information under embargo before it is released to the public.
"The leak is a serious and disappointing breach of many years of trust," Reserve Bank Governor Graeme Wheeler says in a media statement.
"It created the opportunity for improper gain on financial markets and damage to the integrity of the Bank's communications. I am extremely disappointed that the information was leaked initially and then communicated more widely."
The Reserve Bank says there is no evidence the leak led to any financial market impact.
Mark Weldon, Group CEO of MediaWorks, says the company has apologised unreservedly for the incident.
"Once MediaWorks was aware a leak had taken place, it conducted its own investigation to determine whether the leak had come from within MediaWorks and self-reported that to the Reserve Bank," Mr Weldon says.
The Reserve Bank says the information was passed from the Newshub journalist in the lock-up to the Newshub offices. It was then passed on by another person in the office to a blogger, who only alerted the Reserve Bank after the official announcement.
"The leak was caused by a failure within News to follow proper process and changes have already been made as a result," says Richard Sutherland, Acting Chief News Officer at MediaWorks.
"We are addressing the breach with those concerned and new policies and training will be implemented moving forward."
The Reserve Bank says it will no longer be conducting media lock-ups before OCR announcements, and reporters will now find out about the RBNZ’s announcements at the same time as the public.
Newshub.
