Commentary
Number of banknote depots linked to cash cycle involvement
Public and private sectors jointly bear distribution costs in most jurisdictions
Printworks owners have seven times more cash staff
Currency departments generally more satisfied with non-staff resources than staffing
Swap lines with PBoC outnumber those with ECB by factor of three
Benchmark respondent complains of limited access to dollar swaps
Banks compete with official sector for reserve manager market share
External allocations increased modestly, but preferences have been reshuffling
Quarter of central banks adjusted reserves strategy after tariffs
Managers mostly adjusted duration; most change comes from Asia-Pacific
Third parties manage roughly one-sixth of reserves
Compensation for external asset managers takes different forms across jurisdictions
Four-fifths of central banks review strategic asset allocation annually
Approach tends to be more pronounced among smaller reserves holders
ESG gap between advanced and emerging economies narrows
ESG bond allocations are slightly down overall, but EMDEs are catching up
Foreign exchange interventions jump 71% year on year
One in four central banks uses derivatives for FX intervention
Investment tranches account for half of reserves
Just one-fifth of central banks lack tranching mechanisms
Central bank gold reserves ramping up
Equities also on the rise, but remain idiosyncratic
Larger reserve holders operate longest portfolio duration
Duration among respondents holds steady at around two years, on average
Reserves exposure to non-SDR sovereign debt increases
US Treasuries and gold remain the most prominent asset classes
US dollar continues to dominate central bank FX reserves
Nearly all central banks hold dollars, but emerging market reserve managers have the highest allocations
Managers predict moderate AI impact on reserves
But many reserve managers see high future potential for AI
Most central banks have plenty of import coverage
There is little common ground between respondents at high or low levels of coverage
Staff strength and salary associated with size of reserves
Managers report greater satisfaction with non-staff resources than staffing levels
Economics departments use multiple coding languages
More than half of central banks use five or more coding languages and tools
Geopolitics is fastest-rising research topic for economists
Research economists are most widely judged on their output of papers
Economists devote up to half of working hours to research
Higher-paid research economists tend to spend more time on own research
Dedicated data units widely used in economics departments
Teams make use of varied microdata in their work