Central Banking Awards 2026
The winners of the 13th annual Central Banking Awards
The Central Banking Awards 2026 recognise excellence in a community that had faced significant policy and operational challenges amid prolonged inflationary pressures and rapid technological change. Many institutions have also made significant improvements in their governance, operations, communications, economics, currency, cyber, reserves and market infrastructure capabilities.
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Governor of the year: Jerome Powell
The Fed chair has shown high levels of integrity and resolve in upholding his public duty in the pursuit of price stability and maximum employment
Lifetime achievement award: Mervyn King
The former BoE governor helped restore UK monetary policy credibility, played a central role during the global financial crisis, and has made significant contributions towards better bank oversight and economics
Central bank of the year: Central Bank of Nigeria
A return to policy orthodoxy under new leadership at the African central bank helped to bring Nigeria’s economy back from the brink
Reserve manager: Central Bank of the Philippines
New risk management approaches, forward-looking SAA tranching, internal capacity building and a redesigned external fund management framework set the BSP apart
Digital transformation award: Bank of Mexico
Banxico has replaced critical systems with ‘living’, adaptive, decentralised architecture
Risk manager: Central Bank of the UAE
The new integrated risk management approach is identifying control gaps and enhancing efficiency
Currency manager: Central Bank of Curaçao and Sint Maarten
The central bank overcame a nine-year hiatus to launch the Caribbean guilder
Initiative of the year: Reserve Bank of India
By mandating a domain name for the country’s lenders, the RBI has struck a blow against cyber fraud
Transparency award: Bank of England
UK central bank moves out of its ‘comfort zone’ with targeted efforts towards market counterparties and Gen Z citizens
Communications initiative: Hong Kong Monetary Authority
Innovative campaign supported by top leadership has helped counter rising levels of financial scams
Economics in central banking: Bruno Tiberto
The Brazilian economist’s work delivers a robust study of how independence affects inequality, at a critical time for the BCB’s autonomy
Financial stability initiative: Central Bank of Bosnia and Herzegovina
A holistic approach is enabling the central bank to reinforce financial stability, despite country’s challenging institutional set-up
Payments and market infrastructure development – retail: Central Bank of Colombia’s Bre-B
Colombia’s new federated payments system achieved success due to thoughtful planning, proactive regulation and successful onboarding
Payments and market infrastructure development – wholesale: National Bank of Ethiopia
The East African central bank has implemented a major overhaul of Ethiopia’s core financial infrastructure
Artificial intelligence initiative: Bank of Namibia
A concerted effort to implement AI has delivered efficiency gains within and across the financial sector
Asset services initiative: HSBC
Bank’s expertise in gold and bespoke securities lending helped central banks to navigate volatility
Asset manager: Crown Agents Investment Management
CAIM’s SDR-based investment scheme helped central banks put unused capital sources to use
Partner initiative: Amundi-Flar
LatAm central banks recognised the value of an ESG-aligned corporate bond ETF developed by Amundi and Flar
Financial services: Citi
The US bank has striven to provide clients with high-level advice as well as service breadth, technical expertise and execution
Advisory services: Oliver Wyman
The firm’s crisis management expertise has supported efforts at G20 central banks, the BIS and Iraq
Regtech/suptech services: Regnology
Supervisory hub offers data sovereignty and essential upgrades in secure public cloud
Technology services: Vermeg
Vermeg’s Megara is the engine behind Europe’s landmark collateral ecosystem
Financial markets infrastructure services – wholesale: Bloomberg
Tech firm helped Nigeria and Sri Lanka’s central banks to build essential FX market infrastructure, and Portugal and Ukraine’s treasuries to optimise debt auctions
Financial market infrastructure – retail: ACI Worldwide
The payments company’s digital central infrastructure has played a key role in Colombia’s Bre-B roll-out as well as elsewhere
Digital currency initiative: eCurrency
eCurrency translates cultural context into CBDC design, informed by global experience
Payment services: CMA Small Systems
The Swedish technology company has played a critical role in supporting payment upgrades
Reserve management initiative: World Bank Group Treasury’s uninvested cash view dashboard
The multilateral body has harnessed customer data to provide central banks with insights about potential lost earnings linked to parked cash and overdrafts
