Australia's central bank bans Canadian investment bank from private briefings after leak

SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australia's central bank has barred Canada's global investment bank from confidential briefings after one of its clients leaked details from a closed-door briefing, two sources familiar with the decision said on Tuesday.

This is the second leak after the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) was criticized last year when then-governor Philip Lowe briefed traders at a private meeting of Barrenjoey Capital Partners after the central bank surprised markets with a hawkish interest rate outlook.

Deputy Governor Christopher Kent met with economists and trading clients at RBC Capital Markets, the investment banking arm of the Royal Bank of Canada, in February after the RBA kept interest rates steady at 4.35%, two sources told Reuters. The sources did not want to be named because the discussions were private.

Following the meeting, RBC Capital Markets' trading client told an outside employee what Kent had said at the briefing, the sources said.

When RBC discovered this leak, it proactively shared the information with the RBA, and the central bank imposed a 12-month ban on RBC for the breach, one of the sources said.

RBC Capital Markets and the RBA declined to comment on the matter.

The story was first published by the Australian Financial Review on Tuesday.

Michele Bullock took over as RBA governor from Lowe in September last year. Lowe joined Barrenjoey's board last month.

When asked about the issue, Australia's Treasurer Jim Chalmers said it was not the government's job to manage or monitor arrangements between the Reserve Bank and commercial banks.

“But I share the concern … that some elements of confidentiality may have been breached and I'm sure our colleagues in the bank are thinking about what that means for the way they conduct these briefings and who is involved “,” Chalmers told reporters at a news conference in Canberra.

(Reporting by Praveen Menon and Stella Qiu; Additional reporting by Renju Jose; Editing by Michael Perry)