Africa
Legal mandates for CBDC issuance remain rare among central banks
Some await parliamentary approval as framework examination commences in their jurisdictions
More than half of central banks have a fintech strategy
Implementation challenged by poor regulation and talent scarcity
ISO 31000 and COSO–ERM remain central banks’ leading standards
Central banks from high income countries less likely to use COSO–ERM
Mean risk management salary greater in high income countries
Salaries average $72,738 in rich countries but $33,464 in upper-middle income nations
Most central banks have difficulty hiring skilled cyber security staff
Respondents highlight pay disparity, skills gap and technological advancements as factors
Exit rate of risk management staff averages over 10%
Workers in middle income institutions tend to leave at a higher rate
Operational and financial risk units have largest staff
Upper-middle income institutions have largest average total number of risk employees
Enterprise-wide risk management widespread among central banks
Few institutions maintain use of department-level and damage limitation approaches
Most central banks lack climate risk units
Just under half of institutions say they have difficulty hiring staff with matching skills
Cyber and fintech risk policies rejigged in a few central banks
Departmental structure varies across jurisdictions
Minority of central banks altered risk functions in past two years
Amendments emanate from factors including technology and climate change
Few central banks lack risk management strategies
Two respondents do not have a risk strategy and slightly more lack a defined risk tolerance
GRC systems remain scarce among central banks
Minority of central banks project adoption this year, others aim to upgrade
Most heads of risk management units report to governor or board
Risk management committees are more likely to exist in central banks than chief risk officers
Risk management units are most often centralised
Operational risks are the most covered area across participating jurisdictions
People: October to December 2023
A round-up of central bankers in the news and on the move during the past three months
Ghana’s Ernest Addison on the chain of events that led to a loss of $5 billion
The Bank of Ghana governor speaks with Christopher Jeffery about what necessitated monetary financing, the boundaries of ‘independence’ and the results of offline tests of the e-cedi
Administrative data tops list as alternative data source
Research and forecasting remain key areas of application for central bank economists
Economists’ rate of access to centralised data services still below par
Central banks in high-income jurisdictions still have more access
Most heads of research are responsible for sign-off on research
Peer-reviewed papers remain most-used metric for measuring research success
Central banks average 11 working papers over the past year
Just over a quarter of central banks run research blogs
Central banks prioritise inflation dynamics research
Middle income institutions tend to have much widest research interests
Time series model is top tool for forecasting and research
Use of machine learning models for research purposes surges year on year
Economic growth and inflation are most-forecast variables
Private debt, commodity prices and market interest rates rank as laggards