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Handful of central banks have bilateral payment links
Projects are nascent and growing, but some countries seek multilateral links instead
Central banks favour instant payments over CBDCs
Interoperability of systems and financial inclusion drive decisions among survey respondents
Strategic Planning Benchmarks 2025 report – charting a path
The first strategic planning benchmark sheds light on department structure, control methods and KPIs
Benchmarking
Half of central banks have yet to adopt ISO 20022 in RTGS systems
Adoption rate increased sharply in 2025 with more planning to upgrade soon
Instant payment system adoption grows 16.5% year on year
Most central banks either have a system or plan to launch one
Inter-bank working groups
Facilitating connections between central bankers across the globe to promote the exchange of expertise and support collaboration.
Upcoming meetings include: Cyber risk management, social media in communications and upgrading forecast models.
Model banks
Strategic Planning Benchmarks 2025 – model banks analysis
Governance Benchmarks 2025 – model banks analysis
Fintech Benchmarks 2025 – model banks analysis
Risk Management Benchmarks 2025 – model banks analysis
Economics Benchmarks 2024 – model banks analysis
Currency Benchmarks 2024 – model banks analysis
Reserve Benchmarks 2024 – model banks analysis
Financial Stability Benchmarks 2024 – model banks analysis
Monetary Policy Benchmarks 2024 – model banks analysis
Payments Benchmarks 2024 – model banks analysis
Communications Benchmarks 2024 – model banks analysis
Governance Benchmarks 2024 – model banks analysis
Charts
Breaking down independence
The Governance Benchmarks 2025 breaks down central bank independence into 10 key areas, with independence rated one to five, with five being full independence. Average scores are high across the board, though some individual central banks report problems in particular areas.
For the full breakdown, use the benchmarking service’s interactive charts to explore the data.
Reports
Strategic Planning Benchmarks 2025 report – charting a path
Governance Benchmarks 2025 report – independence amid turbulence
Fintech Benchmarks 2025 report – supervising security
Risk Management Benchmarks 2025 report – mind the techno-political gap
Economics Benchmarks 2024 report – making models work
Currency Benchmarks 2024 report – securing cash payments
Reserve Benchmarks 2024 report – the challenge of diversification
Financial Stability Benchmarks 2024 report – seeking sounder banks
Monetary Policy Benchmarks 2024 report – back to normality?
Payments Benchmarks 2024 report – towards tokenisation
Communications Benchmarks 2024 report – emerging trends
Near-24/7 RTGS systems more susceptible to outages
Central banks with longest uptime also report highest number of contingency sites
Most RTGS systems projected for upgrade within a year
Two in three RTGSs operating 13–16 hours daily to be upgraded within a year
Budget and RTGS operating expenses rise year on year
Share of central banks charging both fixed and varied fees for RTGS access grows
Most central banks operate RTGS seven to 12 hours daily
Respondents processed over $6 trillion via system in 2024