Reserve Bank of Australia chief Philip Lowe said the coronavirus is having a 'significant'effect' on the country's economy
At least three banks were reprimanded by the RBA in the past two years for leaking details about private discussions to their clients.

Defending the Reserve Bank of Australia's (RBA) practice of holding private off-the-record briefings with the country's financial institutions, Deputy Governor Andrew Hauser said that engaging with various societal groups was essential to understanding economic issues, and that only publicly available information was discussed during these meetings.

Speaking at the Walkley award event in Sydney, Hauser said, "I can assure you, the dry nature of much of our liaison over time, I think if we put it on video people would probably say 'Dear God, please stop'. There's hundreds and hundreds of hours of it every month. We do that privately, and we do it so they can tell us how their individual business is doing," ABC reported.

He argued that a central bank needed to build strong bonds with business, unions, government organizations and the financial sector.

"You need to understand how they think," Hauser stated. "You need to understand how their business is going. And without that, you do a bad job."

However, he stressed on the confidential nature of the briefings. "It's important that we treat the information they give us about their individual business confidentially whilst using the aggregate picture, that we derive out of adding it up, to inform monetary policy," Hauser said.

Hauser added that the private meetings did not involve discussions of rate cut secrets, but focused on information available in the public domain after RBA board decisions were made.

"I know, sometimes, people, including in the financial markets, clamour to come to these roundtables, in the hope they might hear something that's not in the public domain," Hauser said. "They don't, and perhaps they go away disappointed."

His comments came in the wake of reports that at least three banks were reprimanded by the RBA in the past two years for leaking details about private discussions to their clients.

Last week, Australian Financial Review reported that Westpac was blacklisted by the RBA in 2023, following the leak of details from an off-the-record briefing with RBA officials.

During the event, Hauser also noted that despite the ongoing instability in the Middle East, oil prices have remained flat or slightly lower, as key oil producers like the U.S. and Saudi Arabia have stayed unaffected.

While oil prices have recently risen due to increased tension in the region, they remain significantly lower than during the period after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, he said.

"We're keeping a close eye on it, as we do with many risks, but so far I wouldn't put it in the top three," Hauser said.

In the last five days, the price of brent crude, the global benchmark for oil prices, had increased by 7% to $US79.70 amid fears of a likely Israeli attack on Iranian oil facilities. However, the prices are 9.6% lower compared to the same period last year.