RBA unveils 2025–26 Corporate Plan

On Friday (29 August), the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) released its 2025–26 Corporate Plan, which it will keep in place to guide its objectives and perceived achievements until 2028–29.

The RBA outlined its five key priorities to be the establishment of a framework for monetary policy, reinforcing the reliability of payment and banking systems, shaping the future of Australian money, embedding high-quality leadership and dynamic culture, and creating a smarter, simpler and faster way of working that enabled efficiency.

Michele Bullock, RBA governor, said these five strategies, which were also included within the 2024–25 Corporate Plan, would continue to guide the RBA’s transformation in a challenging environment.

“We are now in our third year of a four-year transformation plan to support our vision of being an open and dynamic central bank that is trusted for the quality of our analysis, policy and service delivery. Achieving this transformation within the four-year period is both demanding and complex,” she said.

“But we are committed to successfully completing it, knowing that this is an essential part of how we can fulfil our mission of promoting the economic prosperity and welfare of all Australians, both now and into the future.”

On its monetary policy goal, the RBA said strong monetary policy relied on robust frameworks that delivered timely insights, fostered healthy deliberation and debate, as well as promoted transparency and accountability.

It was outlined that the RBA would achieve this by enabling deeper and more strategic deliberation, investing in data-driven insights and expertise, modernising its monetary policy implementation framework and enhancing its communication capabilities.

The payments settlement system and banking services would be set to be streamlined by enhancing the operating model, cybersecurity defences and technology infrastructure that supported them, which Bullock said could be achieved by uplifting the operating model, enhancing cybersecurity controls and modernising core technology infrastructure.

In terms of high-quality leadership and facilitating an open and dynamic culture, the RBA said it would embed a target organisational culture, invest in leadership and create an environment that promoted the development and fulfilment of its people.

To measure its ongoing performance in these targets and to ensure they were achieved, Bullock said the RBA focused on its risk oversight and management as there were key policy and operating risks involved.

In addition to this, external and internal risks were also noted to impact how the RBA executed its objectives including factors such as climate change, trade policy settings, geopolitical tensions, technological change and legislative changes.

The risks currently managed by the RBA were considerable and were often driven by factors outside of its control, according to Bullock.

“It will take some time before we can fully harness the benefits that our new governance structure offers in meeting these challenges,” she said.

“Despite this, I have confidence that we have the right people, processes and systems in place to meet our objectives in 2025/26 and to deliver on our strategic priorities over the coming years.”