A senior Reserve Bank official will leave her post at Australia’s central bank to join the private sector as Westpac’s top economist.

Assistant governor at the Reserve Bank, Luci Ellis, will take over from chief economist at Westpac, Bill Evans, who has been in the high-profile gig for more than three decades.

The esteemed economist will remain at the big four bank as senior economic adviser.

Ms Ellis has been the RBA’s economic assistant governor since 2016 and before that, served as a deputy head of the central bank’s financial stability department for eight years.

She will start at Westpac in October.

– AAP