Feature
Professional services initiative: World Gold Council
Having identified seven different ways of accounting for monetary gold among 70 central banks, the WGC developed guidance to bring greater consistency to accounting practices
Advisory services: Deloitte
Deloitte has a growing central bank footprint, including new projects on strategy and cyber resilience in Canada, fintech in Saudi Arabia and DLT in Hong Kong
Treasury systems initiative: Ion Treasury
Ion’s acquisition of Openlink in 2018 has boosted its central bank and agency clients to 65, with a new ECB contract being a ‘jewel in its crown’
Data services: Vizor Software
The Irish tech company has rolled out major updates to pave the way for more agile supervision as its scalable system won major repeat business with Sama and the Bank of England
Outstanding contribution for capacity building: Warren Coats
For his extraordinary life’s work in helping to put more than 20 central banks – from those in former Soviet republics to those recovering from war – on a sounder footing
Transparency: National Bank of Ukraine
The Ukrainian central bank has made strong progress in improving its transparency during a highly challenging operating environment
Payments and market infrastructure development: Reserve Bank of Australia
The RBA has spearheaded the development of an upgraded retail payment system that includes real-time settlement
Currency manager: Bank of Israel
The Israeli central bank is revolutionising the way it manages the country’s banknotes while maintaining security and preparing for the future
Currency services: De La Rue
2018 was a busy year for the UK-based banknote provider as it secured new clients and transformed its focus towards technology
Currency innovation: Giesecke+Devrient Currency App
The German company has helped central banks improve their educational outreach to bolster national currency security
Financial inclusion initiative: Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis
Improvements in the bank’s financial inclusion initiatives are helping tackle the polarisation of economic education in the US and across the globe
Financial market infrastructure services: ParFX
The foreign exchange platform has pioneered a market-driven effort to tackle concerns about poor market behaviour and distrust in the $5 trillion-a-day market
Reserve manager of the year: Bank of Mexico
The Latin American central bank has adopted a forward-looking asset allocation strategy as well as embracing absolute return approaches
Asset manager of the year: State Street Global Advisors
The US financial group used its global presence, and equity and fixed income expertise, to expand its central bank client base and assets under management in 2018
Global markets award: HSBC
HSBC’s global reach and expertise in emerging Asian markets has helped its long-term central bank clients develop more sophisticated reserve management strategies and move into new markets
Innovation in reserve management: BNP Paribas Asset Management
The asset manager developed new fixed income investment strategies in 2018 that have delivered strong returns and diversification for clients, while also offering practical training support
Custody initiative of the year: Citi
The US financial group used its global presence and technological edge in 2018 to deepen existing relations and obtain new mandates
Initiative of the year: RBNZ’s Financial Strength Dashboard
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand’s Financial Strength Dashboard offers a window into the nation’s banking system
Specialised lending initiative: Deutsche Bank
As agent lender for securities purchased under the European Central Bank’s bond purchase programme, Deutsche Bank has played an important role in supporting secondary market liquidity
The PBoC’s efforts to solve the ‘impossible trinity’
Chinese central bank intervenes to manage offshore renminbi rate; uses swaps, rather than selling reserves in latest currency interventions
Beyond payments: central bank digital currency
The issuance of central bank digital currencies, such as Sweden’s proposed e-krona, could facilitate monetary policy beyond the zero lower bound
The EU tries to rethink its faltering AML regime
The European Union plans to centralise its anti-money laundering efforts following a series of scandals this year. Dan Hardie looks at the options available and the multitude of challenges that remain
Agent-based models: a new frontier for macroeconomics?
Agent-based modelling is opening up new possibilities for economics, but the discipline is still struggling to move from the sidelines to the mainstream
What next for the BoJ’s unprecedented ETF experiment?
No other central bank has attempted such purchases, and exiting the policy may prove extremely challenging, says Sayuri Shirai