BISness

Johannes Ehrentraud explains the evolving relationship between banks and tech firms in the financial sector.

Hyun Song Shin summarises the March 2025 BIS Quarterly Review and, along with Gaston Gelos and Frank Smets, answers journalists' questions about market developments, the state of the global economy and fiscal policy.

Cecilia Skingsley reflects on the first five years of the BIS Innovation Hub and discusses how it can continue to be useful to the central banking community.

Claudio Borio and Hyun Song Shin summarise the December 2024 Quarterly Review and answer journalists' questions about financial market developments and the economic outlook.

Andréa M Maechler explains why price stability matters for consumers, employers, and investors and how central banks provide trust in money on three fronts, among other topics.

Jon Frost of the BIS Office for the Americas and Holti Banka from the World Bank dive into fast payments and central bank digital currencies, exploring their key differences and similarities, and looking into what the future holds.

Bank of France Governor François Villeroy de Galhau, Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda, Bank of Spain Governor José Luis Escrivá and European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde discuss the implications of climate change for the real economy and central banks. Link to event page: https://www.bis.org/events/green_swan_2024/overview.htm

Deniz Igan explains the drivers and implications of the strong growth of housing costs despite a decline in inflation.

Claudio Borio and Hyun Song Shin summarise the September 2024 Quarterly Review and answer journalists' questions about financial market developments and the economic outlook. 

Andreas Schrimpf and Vladyslav Sushko explain the drivers and implications of the unwinding of carry trades, which were associated with financial market turbulence in August 2024.

Agustín Carstens outlines the ideal policy constellation for the fastest growth with the lowest inflation and issues a call to action for governments.

Claudio Borio discusses the lessons learned for monetary policy from the extraordinary events of the past 25 years, and looks ahead to upcoming challenges. Read more.

Hyun Song Shin discusses the benefits and challenges for central banks of the latest artificial intelligence technology. Read more.

Should a prudential regulatory regime apply to non-bank financial intermediaries – and if so, what should it look like? Financial Stability Institute Senior Advisors Johannes Ehrentraud and Raihan Zamil discuss this, drawing from their recent FSI Insight paper: Safeguarding the financial system's spare tyre: regulating non-bank retail lenders in the digital era (bis.org).

BIS General Manager Agustín Carstens and Siddharth Shetty, from the Foundation for Interoperable Digital Economy, discuss a vision of multiple interconnected financial ecosystems designed to empower individuals and firms, the Finternet, at the BIS Innovation Summit 2024.

Historian, philosopher and best-selling author Yuval Noah Harari discusses with Cecilia Skingsley, head of the BIS Innovation Hub, the potential impacts of future technologies on human society and the global financial system.

How will the widespread adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) affect inflation and the global economy? How do consumers perceive the impact of AI on their everyday lives? BIS economists Iñaki Aldasoro and Sebastian Doerr discuss these issues, drawing from their recent Working Paper The impact of artificial intelligence on output and inflation and BIS Bulletin Survey evidence on gen AI and households: job prospects amid trust concerns.

The Basel Committee at 50; listen to Chair Pablo Hernández de Cos and Secretary General Neil Esho discuss the Committee's work – past, present and future, as well as the International Conference of Banking Supervisors. 

Cecilia Skingsley and Hyun Song Shin explain the BIS's new project to test the tokenization of commercial and central bank money, in association with seven central banks.

Roberto Campos Neto, Governor of the Central Bank of Brazil, talks to Alexandre Tombini, Chief Representative for the BIS Office for the Americas, about past challenges for the central bank and future priorities, including instant payments and financial inclusion.

Should central banks worry about women's level of participation in the economy and the economic profession? Rosanna Costa, President of the Central Bank of Chile talks to Alexandre Tombini, Chief Representative for the BIS Office for the Americas about why they should, while also sharing some highlights on Chile's current macroeconomic situation.

Claudio Borio and Hyun Song Shin summarise the March 2024 Quarterly Review and answer journalists' questions about financial market developments and the economic outlook.

Central banks were early adopters of AI and machine learning. But as the world ramps up efforts to embrace new technologies, what does this mean for central banks? How can they stay ahead of the curve? Sebastian Doerr and Douglas Araujo discuss the findings of a BIS Bulletin on AI applications in central banking and the challenges that central banks might face in the future in this area.

What role have central banks played in bringing down inflation? 2023 has seen central banks across the globe respond forcefully to the recent rise in inflation. But given that much of this increase was due to sectoral shocks, what can monetary policy do to counter it? Benoit Mojon explains the findings of a new BIS Bulletin on monetary policy and disinflation, co-authored with other BIS economists.

Artificial intelligence is on everyone's minds these days. Many are predicting a period of upheaval ahead, while others believe it will be beneficial to economic growth and productivity. But how will all this impact the richest and poorest in society? Jon Frost, Head of Economics for the Americas, and Giulio Cornelli, Senior Financial Market Analyst, shed some light on this question, drawing from their recent research paper Artificial intelligence, services globalisation and income inequality, co-authored with Saurabh Mishra.

Claudio Borio and Hyun Song Shin summarise the December 2023 Quarterly Review and answer journalists' questions about financial market developments and the economic outlook.

Which trends might shape Asia's economic outlook? Which challenges do emerging markets currently face? Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) Chief Executive Eddie Yue discusses these questions with Chief Representative of Office for Asia and the Pacific, Tao Zhang. The HKMA has been a member of the BIS for over 25 years. Chief Executive Yue also spoke about the evolution of this relationship and about what developments such as digital innovation and climate change might mean for Hong Kong SAR and the wider region.

Do stablecoins live up to their name and can they serve as a reliable means of payment and store of value? Senior Economist Anneke Kosse discusses these questions based on the BIS paper “Will the real stablecoin please stand up?” She also highlights how significant data gaps regarding the users and uses of stablecoins make it difficult to ascertain the risks they pose to the smooth functioning of payment systems and financial stability.

Claudio Borio and Hyun Song Shin summarise the September 2023 Quarterly Review and answer journalists' questions about financial market developments and the economic outlook.

The last mile to price stability will be most challenging, says Agustín Carstens, discussing the risks to the global economy laid out in the BIS Annual Economic Report.

Claudio Borio offers a historic perspective on the interaction of fiscal and monetary policy to better understand the challenges facing the global economy today, and draw some lessons for the future. Read more.

Hyun Song Shin explains the main elements of the unified ledger and how tokenisation can be a game changer for the monetary system. Read more. 

Over the past 40 years, income inequality within countries has risen inexorably. A book by BIS authors explains why this has profound implications for the design of macroeconomic stabilisation policies.

In a speech, Agustín Carstens argues that central banks need to think big to reap the greatest benefits from innovation. He discusses the options with Sopnendu Mohanty, Chief Fintech Officer of the Monetary Authority of Singapore. Read the speech here: https://www.bis.org/speeches/sp230222.htm

How did the 2022 turmoil in the crypto market affect small, retail investors compared with large or insider investors? Was there any spillover to traditional financial markets?  Jon Frost, Head of Economics for the Americas, and Giulio Cornelli, Senior Financial Market Analyst, provide some answers based on their recent BIS Bulletin Crypto shocks and retail losses, co-authored with Sebastian Doerr and Leonardo Gambacorta. 

Andrew McCormack, Head, BIS Innovation Hub Singapore Centre, discusses Project Nexus, a blueprint for connecting multiple national payment systems into a cross-border network that could enable international payments to happen almost instantaneously. He talks about the successful completion of Phase II, which involved building a working prototype to link three established payment systems, and looks forward to Phase III, which will see five Southeast Asian countries work towards connecting their domestic payment systems. He also talks about the challenges facing the project as well as its ultimate aims. He touches upon innovations in the financial space and looks back on the major insights he gained in his time as head of the Singapore Centre. 

Global green financing has grown 100 times over the past decade. And yet, it is still surrounded by considerable controversy – why is it so? Bank of France's Jean Boissinot – a leading expert of green finance in the central bank community – explains what green finance can (and cannot) do for environmental sustainability. He also highlights the role and achievements of the Network for Greening the Financial System, a group of central banks and supervisors working together on environmental and climate issues

Cecilia Skingsley looks at her first six months as Head of the BIS Innovation Hub, the path of innovation on the public sector and the role of central banks and the private sector in providing financial services in a rapidly changing world. She says that central banks have to follow and understand not only cyclical changes, but also structural changes, which “can be slow and take a long time, such as globalization (…), or be very rapid and disruptive, such as the pandemic.” She also talks about diversity and being the first policymaker to propose a digital currency in her native Sweden.

Claudio Borio and Hyun Song Shin summarize the March 2023 Quarterly Review and answer journalists' questions about market developments and the economic outlook. 

Central banks face difficult trade-offs when deciding the speed and size of interest rate hikes to counter inflation, as well as how long to keep the policy rate at the peak. Egon Zakrajšek, Senior Adviser in the BIS Monetary and Economic Department, discusses the benefits and risks of “front-loading” rate increases, drawing from a recent BIS Bulletin he co-authored with Paolo Cavallino, Giulio Cornelli and Peter Hördahl.

The BIS Innovation Hub is leading practical experiments to show how CBDCs can help deliver faster, cheaper and more transparent cross-border payments. Codruta Boar, advisor at the Innovation Hub, discusses research that she has co-authored with Morten Bech, Daniel Eidan, Philipp Haene, Henry Holden and Wee Kee Toh. Read more: https://www.bis.org/publ/othp51.htm

Claudio Borio and Hyun Song Shin brief the media on the key takeaways of the BIS December 2022 Quarterly Review and answer questions about FX markets, liquidity conditions, monetary policy and crypto assets.

Turnover in global foreign exchange (FX) markets reached $7.5 trillion per day in April 2022 in a volatile market, the 2022 Triennial Survey shows. Vlad Sushko, senior economist at the BIS, discusses a shift towards less “visible” FX trading venues. Read more.

Innovative technologies can foster a greener future by transforming finance. A case in point is the work being done by the BIS Innovation Hub Centre in Hong Kong. Bénédicte Nolens, head of the center, explains how Project Genesis 1.0 and 2.0 aim at making it more attractive to issue and invest in green bonds. 

How can policymakers detect future stress risk in financial markets?  Our staff developed new market conditions indicators for three key market segments.

Claudio Borio and Hyun Song Shin summarize the September 2022 Quarterly Review and answer journalists' questions about market developments and the economic outlook.

Asia-Pacific has often been at the centre of global developments in recent years. Siddharth Tiwari, departing Chief of the BIS Office for Asia and the Pacific in Hong Kong, explains how the region and BIS involvement there have evolved

Nana Yaa Boakye-Adjei, Senior Consultant at the World Bank, speaks about Financial Inclusion, CBDC and the work she has been doing during her secondment with the FSI at the BIS.

High inflation and mounting growth headwinds raise the prospects of global stagflation and call for quick and decisive action by central banks, says Agustín Carstens, presenting the BIS's Annual Economic Report.

The recent surge in inflation has underscored the need to “look under the hood” to better understand how relative price changes can morph into broader-based inflation. Claudio Borio summarises the key insights from this fresh perspective.

What will the future of the monetary system look like? Hyun Song Shin, BIS Economic Advisor and Head of Research, presents a blueprint for the future monetary system as the fusion of enhanced technical capabilities around the core of the trust embodied in central bank money, as outlined in a special chapter of the BIS 2022 Annual Economic Report.