Hon Peter Costello AC

Peter Costello practiced as a lawyer for ten years before entering the Australian Parliament where he served over nineteen years. From March 1996 to December 2007 he was Treasurer of the Commonwealth of Australia, a record term.

During this period he was responsible for foreign investment policy, competition (anti-trust) policy, corporate regulation, superannuation, tax policy and the Federal Budget. He brought down twelve Federal Budgets, eliminated government debt in net terms and established Australia’s Future Fund. During his period as Treasurer, Australia’s sovereign rating was upgraded twice to its current AAA level.

Mr Costello set up Australia’s system of financial regulation with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission and the Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority established in 1998 and the Financial Services Reform Act of 2001. He introduced Australia’s monetary policy targets by agreement with the Reserve Bank of Australia.
For more than a decade Mr Costello was a Governor of the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank. He was also a member of the Committee of the International Monetary Fund. He has been Chairman of the OECD Ministerial and the APEC Finance Ministers. He was involved in the establishment of the G20 after the Asian Financial Crisis and was Global Chairman of the G20 in 2006.

Mr Costello has been a columnist for Australia’s Fairfax and News Limited papers and has been published in the Financial Times and the Wall St Journal.
Mr Costello has Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws (with Honours) degrees from Monash University. He is currently a member of the Independent Advisory Board of the World Bank which advises on transparency and anti-corruption measures. In December 2009 Mr Costello was appointed a Guardian of Australia’s Future Fund. Mr Costello is currently Managing Director at BKK Partners.