Commentary
Briefing, analysis and research are monetary policy officials’ top duties
Average departmental staff remains below 40 persons
Half of central banks use forecast errors to assess policy impact
Surveys of expectations widely used but surveys of trust and understanding are less common
Nearly 40% of central banks use targeted liquidity facilities
“Funding for lending” schemes remain widespread, though some have been wound down post-Covid
Half of central banks regularly review monetary framework
Vast majority conduct reviews but many are ad hoc
Most asset purchase programmes are winding down
Around a quarter of respondents have open APPs but most are shrinking
Over 25% of central banks pre-brief government on policy decisions
Briefing patterns differ across institutions, as two central banks start practice
One-third of central banks offer liquidity to non-banks
But most keep the list of counterparties strictly limited
Remittance fees unregulated in most jurisdictions despite high costs
But central banks identify opportunities in cross border payments integration
Banks are main instant payments participants
Email address is central banks’ least-used payment channel
Two in five RTGS systems experienced outage last year
Majority of central banks plan technology upgrade within a year
Around two-fifths of central banks planning instant payments
Central banks processed instant transactions with average value of over $124 billion in 2023
Most central banks resistant to crypto in retail payments
Just six central banks are open to retail payments being facilitated by digital assets like bitcoin
Majority of central banks increased payment system budget in 2023
Nearly half of central banks say resourcing is not sufficient
Average cost of running RTGS systems is $1.8 million
Annual costs slightly higher than last year’s benchmark
Most RTGS systems operate between seven and 12 hours daily
More than 40 institutions on average have direct access to infrastructure
Most central banks optimistic about tokenisation
Programmability, digital signatures and enhanced security are some purported benefits
Slightly over half of payments teams outsource services to third parties
Contracting central banks provide information on attendant risks and precautionary measures
Payments staff strength averages close to 30 personnel
Employees in the Americas collect highest average annual salary
Fewer than half of central banks involved in pricing payments
But Asia-Pacific and African institutions are typically do engage in pricing
Over a third of central banks say retail payments are diversifying
Americas and Asia-Pacific tend to report diversification, as tech and regulation drives change
Over half of central banks have payments oversight powers
Networks and international remittance supervision only covered in a few jurisdictions
Most comms teams aim for social media boost in 2025
Top priorities for next year align with 2023 benchmark findings
Press releases outnumber officials’ public appearances
Statistical bulletins also rank as most published document annually
Majority of central banks plan to revamp website in next two years
Institutions aim to improve visual design, information architecture and user experience on their sites