Who owns the RBA

"Who owns the RBA?" - is one of the most commonly asked question we receive regarding the RBA. Firstly, here is a statement by Peter Costello in The Age of 24th November 2010. We assume that when Mr Costello refers to the owner of the RBA being "the government" - he means the Commonwealth.

RBA-owner

 

The Reserve Bank states on its site:

The Bank is wholly owned by the Australian Government, but is not a government department.

 

Below is an extract from the RBA Annual Report 2011.

rba-commonweath-authority

 

The Butterworths Australian Legal Dictionary provides a definition of "Commonwealth authority" as below.commonwealth-authority

 

The Reserve Bank Australia is a "Commonwealth authority" - and it is owned by the Australian government.