Latest benchmarking
Central banks report high levels of independence
Institutions across regions and income groups report significant autonomy from political interference
Salary still poses greatest challenge for recruitment
Staff morale constitutes lowest constraint but is a concern for some central banks
Fintech Benchmarks 2025 report – supervising security
Benchmarks highlight how technological advancement needs to go hand in hand with tougher security
Benchmarking
Over 40% of central banks lack formal recapitalisation agreement
Ten banks were recapitalised in the past year
Some central banks report pressure to change monetary policy
Central banks mention financial and political factors impacting independence
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.
Charts
Cloud pros and cons
Some 80% of benchmark respondents now use some form of cloud services in their work, most commonly for running software and storing data. Chief among the perceived benefits are business continuity, flexible working and automation. But central banks also see risks, primarily due to privacy, the location of cloud servers, and cyber threats.
For the full breakdown, use the benchmarking service’s interactive charts to explore the data.
Reports
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
Benchmarks
Communications
Currency
Economics
Financial Stability
Fintech
Governance
Monetary Policy
Payments
Reserves
Risk Management
One in five central banks pays unrealised gains to government
Most central banks have a formal agreement in place for sharing profits with government
Two-thirds of central banks regularly audit policy processes
Internal and external audit functions are combined in most jurisdictions
Half of central banks must be consulted on law changes
Practice is slightly more common at banks with government officials on the board
Larger central banks more likely to have diversity policy
Boards with appointment powers more often focus on diversity