New Zealand Finance Minister Grant Robertson has accepted a recommendation from the Reserve Bank board that current New Zealand Superannuation Fund Chief Executive Adrian Orr take over as Governor of the RBNZ when acting Governor Grant Spencer retires at the end of March. Robertson said Orr, who has previously served as Deputy Reserve Bank Governor, was one of his own top picks for the role, and added that the appointment would also be popular with financial markets. The New Zealand dollar rose more than half a cent to a one-week high over 69 USc by early evening after the 4pm announcement."This will be an appointment that will be welcome right across the financial sector. Mr Orr is highly regarded. He does have expertise in a technical sense from his time at the bank previously, and is obviously a very well-respected CEO as well," Robertson said."He is a person who I have long held in high regard for the work that he's done at the Super Fund and when I thought about who should do the role, he was there."However, Orr will have to take a pay cut of almost 40 percent to take up the role. He was paid NZ$1.22 million for the year to June 30, 2017 as the CEO of the NZ Super Fund, but Robertson said RBNZ chairman Neil Quigley had said Orr would be paid within the current band of pay for the current Reserve Bank Governor. The Reserve Bank's annual report for 2016/17 shows the Governor was paid in a band from $850,000 to $860,000, although this included $101,000 in cash for accrued leave, meaning the regular remuneration for the Governor was around $755,000.Robertson said he believed Orr would be a good 'change manager' for the Reserve Bank as it adjusted to a new Policy Targets Agreement and prepared for changes to the RBNZ's single mandate and to its monetary policy decision. It is expected to move towards a formal committee-style process, rather than having the Governor himself make the decision."One of the things I did was speak to the chair of the board when I first took up to ensure that the process of appointing the Governor included the candidates being aware of the direction that we were going in and to assess their ability to implement that direction," Robertson said.The new Policy Targets Agreement between the new Labour-led coalition Government would include the bank focusing on maximising employment as well as price stability. Robertson said it would be signed before Orr takes up his appointment on March 27 and include work being done by a group reviewing the Reserve Bank Act.