BISness

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

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.

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.

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.