Articles by Central Banking staff
Over 50% of central banks actively regulate cost of payments services
Central banks with explicit payments mandate more involved in setting cost limits
Mastercard and Visa dominate card scheme market
Number of operational card schemes ranges from zero to 10
Limited adoption of ISO 20022 messaging in RTGS systems
Around a fifth of central banks said they use the emerging payments messaging technology
Half of central banks surveyed experienced RTGS outages last year
Most reported operating one contingency site
Central banks split on non-bank access to RTGS systems
Benefits of innovation must be weighed against risks of financial instability
Central banks’ payments operations staffed more than oversight function
Advanced economies tend to have higher staff numbers in both functions
Criteria for systemically important payment infrastructure differs
Thirty-one out of 37 central banks said they designate systemically important payment infrastructure
Oversight functions stifled by lack of resources, some central banks say
Skills and resources were identified as limiting factors, as well as the challenges of a recently formed oversight function
Scope of payments systems oversight varies
Almost all central banks are mandated to oversee systemically important payments systems but payments networks, international remittance services and fintech providers often fall out of scope
Communications Benchmarks 2021 report – executive summary
Insights into staffing and salaries, channels, social media, new technology and strategies
FCA asked to investigate ‘unwarranted’ bank account freezing
Parliamentary committee concerned AI may have caused ‘inappropriate bias’
Most central banks communicate in at least two languages
Central banks must weigh challenge of translating sensitive messages against reach
Comms teams grow in step with central bank staff size
But budgets prove to be more varied
Paper analyses eurozone consumers’ inflation expectations
Short-term views, trust and Covid-19 shaped medium-term expectations – Bank of Finland paper
Wide gap between some central banks’ communications budgets
But comms salaries are fairly level between high and middle income groups
Email top for internal central bank communications
In-house platforms, events and seminars also widely used
Officials’ public appearances ranged from rare to frequent in 2020
Central banks take different approaches to senior officials’ online presence
Trust and comprehension seen as more important than audience size
Central bankers see trust as the most important measure of communications effectiveness
Social media is top channel for two-way communication
Central banks use a variety of options to let the public give feedback and ask questions
Monitoring tools critical to measuring comms effectiveness
Facebook and YouTube remain most popular social media options, but some central banks are experimenting with others
Inflation reports more frequent than financial stability reports
Clear majority of central banks also use ‘layering’ in key publications
Central banks leverage multimedia communication channels
Around a third have added podcasts, mobile apps and blogs to their comms repertoire
Comms team salaries similar across high and middle income countries
Employees earn on average around $33,000, according to data from 15 central banks
Vast majority of central banks provide communications training
Social media, writing skills and public speaking emerged as key areas