Articles by Central Banking staff
Cyber security and retaining top talent are biggest tech challenges
Keeping abreast of fintech developments also tests institutions
Central banks use varied cyber defence playbook
Cyber security training for central bank staff occurs at least once a year
Nine in 10 central banks are working on CBDCs
Very few central banks have progressed past the research phase, but those that do are working on general purpose variants
Payment innovation is top fintech spending priority
One-third of central banks say they are prioritising digital currencies
Specialised lending initiative: Clearstream
Clearstream supports eurozone central bank asset purchase programmes by returning liquidity to the market through securities lending while helping Asian and American central banks secure access to this market
Central bank of the year: The Federal Reserve System
Overwhelming Fed interventions in March 2020 forestalled a damaging global financial crisis, as policy overhaul prompts introspection in Europe and Japan
Risk manager: National Bank of Georgia
Liquidity stress tests provided confidence to ease daily thresholds, and offer exchange rate, internal market and financial system support, without forcing the liquidation of illiquid reserves
Treasury systems initiative: Refinitiv
The firm’s data-driven approach is helping central banks stay ahead of fast-moving markets
Initiative of the year: Saudi Central Bank’s business continuity programme
Advanced planning has allowed Sama employees and systems to continue operating critical functions despite the Covid-19 lockdowns
Risk management technology: Ion Treasury
The US firm has championed Libor transition services, and supported reserve managers manage positions during the coronavirus shock
Economics in central banking: ‘Patterns in invoicing currency in global trade’, Emine Boz, Camila Casas, Georgios Georgiadis, Gita Gopinath, Helena Le Mezo, Arnaud Mehl and Tra Nguyen
An extensive data-gathering exercise allowed the authors to shed new light on critical aspects of policy-making in a globalised world, while clearing a path for other researchers to follow
High income countries report greater numbers of licensed fintech firms
Some jurisdictions host many licensed fintech firms but others have none
Central banks struggle to retain fintech talent
Private sector competition lures employees away
Currency services: Crane Currency
The firm supported the needs of clients throughout the pandemic, while continuing to innovate with the launch of micro-optic security features
Financial market infrastructure services: Bloomberg
Bloomberg’s responsive deployment of new liquidity capabilities helped emerging-market central banks cope with pandemic market disruption
Payments and market infrastructure development – wholesale: Reserve Bank of New Zealand
New Zealand’s central bank has embraced major payments infrastructure changes to reduce risk and future-proof the country’s payments landscape
Payment services: ACI Worldwide
ACI has emerged as an important provider of real-time digital payments software, helping banks and small companies connect to core central bank infrastructure
Currency initiative: The ECB and US Federal Reserve’s CDI2 standards
The issuers of the world’s two most international currencies have created an important new technical standard to support more efficient cash management
Currency services initiative: CCL Secure
The banknote substrate provider is making a concerted effort to reduce its environmental impact by optimising production processes and building a recycling plant in Mexico
Payments and market infrastructure development – retail: Central Bank of Hungary
The Hungarian central bank’s strict implementation requirements and unique operational setup has supported the acceleration towards electronic payments during the pandemic
Currency manager: National Bank of Ukraine
Ukraine’s decisive actions to cut currency denominations while upgrading banknotes and coins are starting to pay off
Lifetime achievement: Charles Goodhart
The LSE and BoE veteran economist has his own ‘law’, and played a key role in the establishment of monetary policy in the UK, Hong Kong’s peg and the ‘New Zealand model’, which influenced a generation of central bankers
Website: Central Bank of the Philippines
BSP says its website’s mobile-friendly design and chatbot has boosted effectiveness of communication