Bank for International Settlements – BIS

Are fast payments redefining the future of payments? Find out in our video below, and dive into the BIS Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures’ recent statistics on key trends in retail payments. Read more at: https://lnkd.in/eYStD7RZ #BISDataStories #BISStatistics #DataStories

📚✨ The #IAIS Year in Review 2024 is published today! The report highlights progress made over the past year, the 30th anniversary of the Association, to support our dual mission of #PolicyholderProtection and doing our part to maintain global #FinancialStability. The Year in Review 2024 offers a comprehensive overview of: 📌  Key achievements of the IAIS committees, working groups, task forces and forums in 2024 📌  Delivered work that is increasingly #CrossSectoral and global in nature 📌  Quantifiable highlights in the “IAIS year in numbers” 📰 Download the report: https://lnkd.in/dbcpFXfE #IAIS2025 #IAISNews #Insurance #InsuranceNews #InsuranceSector #InsuranceSupervision #AnnualReport

On the bright side, I was delighted to join a distinguished panel at the International Monetary Fund Spring Meetings in DC last week to discuss how best to harness AI to create resilient financial systems - an important area of work at the BIS in our quest to support central banks and supervisors in their journeys.   While AI has the potential to transform how we monitor risks in today's highly interconnected financial ecosystem, the technology is only as good as the person who is using it. “Skilled people together with AI is what will make us strong.”   Thank you to Babak Abbaszadeh and the Toronto Centre for the invitation, to Jennifer Elliott for excellent moderation and Lesetja Kganyago and Stefan Ingves for the great discussion, and to our IMF hosts.

Artificial intelligence (AI) can hold great potential for central banks. As an innovative technology, it is likely to provide benefits in their various tasks and better support decision-making. Exploring AI has become strategically important for central banks, with the main question being how to use it effectively and responsibly in their various production processes. A new report from the Irving Fisher Committee on Central Bank Statistics, based on a survey of central banks, identifies three key takeaways: 1. The deployment of AI is being complemented with adequate and robust governance. This is essential to foster the development of effective applications in a user-focused manner, while also ensuring that risks are being appropriately mitigated. 2. Implementation is bringing several trade-offs in terms of IT infrastructure. One reflects the pressing need to access more computational power, which can be costly. Another is the reliance on cloud services, potentially raising questions in terms of data protection and sovereignty. 3. Central banks are increasingly aware that leveraging innovation calls for further advancing on data management issues and securing the quality of reference information. This reflects the fact that AI-generated outputs intrinsically depend on the quality of the underlying inputs – the well known “garbage in, garbage out” issue. Read the full report here: https://lnkd.in/dNgeAV2P

Artificial intelligence is transforming how central banks operate, redefining human capital and workforce strategies. In the 100th BIS Bulletin, Sarah Bell, Blaise Gadanecz, Leonardo Gambacorta, Fernando Perez-Cruz and Vatsala Shreeti explore two possible scenarios for central banks: “AI copilots” that enhance human productivity, and “AI agents” that could automate specific tasks while still requiring human oversight for ethical and responsible use. Central banks are already leveraging AI copilots to boost efficiency without fundamentally altering workflows yet. However, the potential rise of AI agents could shift workflows, creating new opportunities and challenges in workforce planning, governance, and talent management. To navigate this shift, central banks must prioritize retraining and upskilling staff, attracting tech-savvy talent, and fostering a culture of innovation to fully harness the benefits of AI. Read the bulletin to learn more about the opportunities and challenges ahead. https://lnkd.in/eSVTjUaF #AI #CentralBanking #FutureOfWork #Innovation

The Bank for International Settlements and its central bank partners have successfully demonstrated with Project Meridian FX how wholesale payment infrastructures, such as RTGS systems, can interoperate with each other for FX transactions using new technologies. The joint project between the Bank for International Settlements, Bank of England, Banque de France, Banca d'Italia - Eurosistema, Deutsche Bundesbank and European Central Bank explored synchronising FX transactions using distributed ledger technology whereby the transfer of one leg of the transaction happens only if the transfer of the other occurs. Meridian FX sought to address some of the actions called for in the G20 cross-border payments roadmap. For example, reducing foreign exchange settlement risk using payment-versus-payment transactions and establishing realistic links between the wholesale payment infrastructures of different countries. Synchronisation could also mitigate some of the liquidity risk and credit risk challenges in the foreign exchange market. Combined with the results of previous work undertaken by the BIS and the Bank of England, Meridian FX shows that synchronisation can be used regardless of the asset or fund of the transaction involved and the technology of the ledgers, highlighting its potential use in other markets. Read more here https://lnkd.in/eZTVgNKu Insights gained from the project will inform the work programmes of the participating central banks. #CrossBorderPayments

Creating digital versions of assets such as central bank reserves and government securities, or tokenisation, holds potential to transform the financial system, General Manager Agustín Carstens said. At a panel as part of the International Monetary Fund Spring Meetings, he said harnessing new technologies would help financial systems become more inclusive and support the well-being of citizens, as well as being safer and more efficient. “Tokenisation can be the future of a financial system with a sophistication that we cannot imagine today,” he said. The future financial system would remain a partnership between the public and private sectors, he said, with the foundation of trust provided by central banks. The BIS is working together with major central banks and private financial institutions on Project Agorá, for example, exploring ways to improve wholesale cross-border payments. Read more at https://lnkd.in/ecb8fx5E. Opening the event, International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva praised Mr Carstens’ leadership in bringing innovation up the agenda for central banks. “Your drive for innovation at the BIS puts you, literally, at the centre of the panel,” she said. The panel, moderated by the IMF’s Tobias Adrian, included Michele Bullock, Governor, Reserve Bank of Australia, Piero Cipollone, Executive Board Member, European Central Bank, and Nandan Nilekani, Chairman & Co-founder, Infosys. Watch the video at https://lnkd.in/ezDygSU3 ©️IMF photo

Did you know that many multilateral development banks (MDBs) are partly funded by financial instruments known as promissory notes, most of which are still paper-based? While this arrangement gives countries operational control over their subscriptions and payments to institutions like the World Bank, the reliance on a paper-based instrument makes the process time-consuming and cumbersome. Project Promissa aims to resolve these issues. The joint initiative of the Bank for International Settlements’ Innovation Hub, the The World Bank and the Swiss National Bank explored how to modernize the management of promissory notes by digitising them and putting them on a distributed ledger, a process known as tokenisation. The project team built a proof-of-concept platform for tokenised promissory notes that both resolved inefficiencies and met key requirements of participating governments, central banks and MDBs. The project is aligned with the G20 goal of delivering better, bigger and more effective MDBs fit for the challenges of the 21st century. Read the report here: https://lnkd.in/e36vtdix Watch the video: https://lnkd.in/ePV9_qju

Co-organised by the BIS’s Financial Stability Institute (FSI), the Chinese National Financial Regulatory Administration (NFRA) and the IAIS - International Association of Insurance Supervisors , the high-level international seminar on insurance supervision brought together over 100 participants from over 30 jurisdictions in Shanghai and virtually. Opened by Vice Minister Xiao Yuanqi from the NFRA, the seminar covered key topics of interest to insurance supervisors globally, including the implications of macroeconomic developments for the insurance sector, as well as IAIS standards on capital, the Holistic Framework, resolution, climate-related risks, reinsurance and financial innovation. FSI Chair Fernando Restoy Lozano remarked that “insurers are in the business of taking on and managing risks, often providing crucial support to buttress financial losses. This role must be safeguarded, and the functioning of insurance markets must be preserved. Given heightened uncertainties in global markets, international cooperation and collaboration are crucial in maintaining global financial stability.” Tao Zhang, Chief Representative of the BIS’s Representative Office for Asia and the Pacific, delivered an address, emphasising how growing uncertainties and unpredictability might impact economies in Asia and urging agility and closer collaboration among policymakers. #FinancialStabilityInstitute

🌐 🌩️ 🌪️ The #IAIS today published its Application Paper on the supervision of climate-related risks in the insurance sector, marking the culmination of over two years of work, four consultations and extensive stakeholder engagement. This comprehensive paper will support supervisors in effectively integrating climate-related #Risks into insurers’ #Governance and risk management #Frameworks, ensuring the resilience of the global insurance sector in the face of growing #Climate challenges. 📆 Join the public webinar on 28 April 2025 ⏰13:00-14:30 CEST ✏️ Register now: https://lnkd.in/dKkbsFGZ    📄 Read the Application Paper: https://lnkd.in/drTRpTgp 📄Read the press release: https://lnkd.in/d77Ue7tP 👉 Learn about the IAIS’ work on climate-related risks: https://lnkd.in/eRsKM8-S   #IAIS2025 #IAISNews #Insurance #InsuranceNews #InsuranceSector #InsuranceSupervision #ClimateChange #Sustainability #NatCat #SustainableFuture #FinancialStability #Macroprudential