Strategic planning benchmarks – the latest data and analysis
Strategic Planning Benchmarks 2025 report – charting a path
The first strategic planning benchmark sheds light on department structure, control methods and KPIs
Central banks are expected to chart a course into a future that looks increasingly digital, but also highly uncertain. Though there is a wide range of approaches at central banks, some key findings stand out. The average strategic plan is built around six pillars and updated roughly every three to five years. Almost all the central banks in the sample treat digital transformation and upgrading payments as key goals.
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Cascading plans
One of the challenges of strategic planning is ‘cascading’ the plan from the top managers who approve it down to the staff who need to implement it. Some central banks achieve this in part by linking progress towards the plan to staff annual reviews.
For the full breakdown, use the benchmarking service’s interactive charts to explore the data.
Strategic Planning Benchmarks 2025 – model banks analysis
Data breakdowns reveal differences in strategic goals, department structure and salaries
Strategic Planning data
View the full breakdown of the Strategic Planning Benchmarks.
Annual reviews usually linked to strategic plans for some staff only
Remuneration commonly not linked with progress on strategic goals
Team leaders increasingly involved in strategic plan implementation
Respondents commonly review plans and re-align objectives after strategic cycles
Number of dedicated strategic planning units rises
Larger central banks more likely to have dedicated units
Intranet and events are main strategy comms tools
Central banks widely use dedicated web page for external communications
Few central banks involve third parties in strategic plan development
Standard operational budgets remain leading source of funding
Disclosure and supervision are top ESG strategy objectives
Emissions monitoring broadly in focus for central banks with narrower plans
Strategic planning frameworks widely draw on Swot analysis
European central banks’ strategies tend to favour Pestel analysis
Narrower strategic planners use more pillars than broader planners
Secondary objectives average 15 in central banks’ strategic plans