The assets of the bank include the gold and foreign exchange reserves of Australia, which is estimated to have a net worth of A$101 billion.

The remainder of the total of 926 staff work in Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Melbourne, Perth, London and New York City.

Since 1996, the governor and other senior members of the RBA have appeared twice annually before the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Economics to explain the conduct of the bank.

According to section 17(1) of the Reserve Bank Act, members of the board are not allowed to be a director, officer, or employee of an institution that is authorised to take in deposits.

If members of a payment system are at odds over issues of market risk, admission, safety and rivalry, the RBA can additionally administer arbitration with the consent of those involved.

[5] The Payment Systems and Netting Act 1998 gives the board power in areas of the law that were previously uncertain.

[5] The current members of the Payments System Board are:[5] From the middle of the 19th century into the 1890s, the prospects for the forming of a central bank grew.

[18] Legislation in 1945 led to regulation of private banks which Herbert Coombs was opposed to, and when he became governor in 1949, he gave them more overall control over their institutions.

[3][16] When the monetary authorities implemented the advice of Coombs to have a flexible interest rate, it allowed the bank to rely more on open market operations.

[citation needed] The float of the Australian dollar happened in 1983, around the same period of time that the financial system in Australia was deregulated.

The move generated considerable discussion, as it was taken during a federal election campaign that was heavily focused on increased costs of living.

The Australian Labor Party, formed during this period, proposed a bank which would be a protected and cheap way of providing financial services.

The only function at the time that made the bank characteristic of a central one was that it was the banker to the Australian government, in addition to it being the same for the states.

In the war, to fund the great increase in government spending, the currency of Australia went off the gold standard, as did those of the United Kingdom and other parts of the British Empire.

The case for a central bank was increased by the need for the government to cut spending after the war to reduce its debt.

[16] The Australian Notes Board (ANB) was created in 1920 and partially acceded to Miller's request, in having four directors, with the governor of the bank being an ex officio member.

When gold arrived from New York the government sold securities to diminish the effect of monetary expansion, therefore executing the first open market operations in the history of Australia and thus the first attempt of central banking.

[citation needed] The Treasurer and Country Party Leader Earle Page wanted to end the monetary contraction which particularly hurt his farming constituents, who were as a result receiving reduced export prices.

[16] The new board of directors replacing it,[3] which was composed of various areas of the industry, soon appointed Garvan chairman, and thus he continued his policies.

[16] When he became governor in 1949, he allowed private banks to have more control over their liquidity and attempted to introduce market-based monetary policy.

[3] This finally created a separate central bank for Australia in 1959, which took effect 14 January 1960, many years after several other nations already had one and similar to the early proposal by Treasurer Theodore.

[3][16] In the mid-1960s, monetary authorities accepted Coombs' conclusions and allowed a flexible interest rate, making it easier for the bank to rely on open market operations.

A change of government in December 2007 led to another Statement, which was issued by both former Treasurer Wayne Swan and Reserve Bank Governor Glenn Stevens.

These RBA subsidiaries were involved in bribing overseas officials so that Australia might win lucrative polymer note-printing contracts.

Australian press coverage, which continued into late 2011, reflects concerns with the apparent laxity and tardiness of corrective actions undertaken by relevant RBA board members and officials.

The matters were not reported to the Federal Police in 2007, although they have been since, while in 2011 it was revealed that the RBA had to correct inaccurate evidence previously given to parliamentary committees.

[citation needed] In July 2014, WikiLeaks released a copy of a court order prohibiting publication throughout Australia of information that "reveals, implies, suggests or alleges" corruption involving specifically named past and present high-ranking Malaysian, Indonesian and Vietnamese officials in relation to the Note Printing Australia bribery allegations.