Africa
Reserve managers typically do not employ negative screening
Central banks with short-term import coverage more likely to utilise tool
Many managers assess reserves with benchmarks and other approaches
Central bank board remains top body granting approval for reserve benchmarking
Bank of Burundi to overhaul country’s market operations
Central bank teams with LSEG to upgrade east African country's financial market infrastructure
European central banks shift reserves from US Treasuries to euro assets
US Treasuries still make up largest share of respondents’ reserves globally
Two in five large reserves holders reduce dollar allocations
Yet central banks’ FX holdings remain broadly denominated in US currency
Reserve managers widely satisfied with staff strength and resources
Large reserve management teams tend to earn higher salaries
Ethiopian governor resigns
Mihretu to leave central bank following two years characterised by major economic reforms
The next step for Africa’s digital economy: fast, inclusive payments
Central banks should lead policy for a payments transformation that benefits all levels of society, argue Jean Pesme and Michael Wiegand
Six central banks report increase in AML/CFT risks
Nine in 10 institutions indicate having sufficient powers to deal with risks
Zimbabwe’s wholesale payment system goes down
Central bank’s website and RTGS experience outage due to “technical challenge”
Central banks see cyber attacks as key financial stability risk
Respondents also reveal other elevated risks, including geopolitics and tariffs
Financial conditions help explain policy stance in Africa – IMF paper
Study says r* is not a sufficient guide to monetary policy when transmission mechanism is impaired
Cyber attacks rise in three-fifths of jurisdictions
Central banks lacking incident response team report highest rate of attacks
People: BSP appoints new deputy governor for supervision
Plus: Kenya lines up Nokia’s country chief for seat on board, and head of US crypto council steps down
Majority of central banks have analysed effects of tariffs
Spike in levies seen as having varying degrees of impact on financial stability
Rates round-up: African central banks hold steady
Mauritius, Namibia, Uganda and Zambia leave policy unchanged, while Kenya cuts
Only 30% of central banks conduct non-bank stress-testing
Exercise tends to be less common in institutions with smaller financial stability teams
Most central banks seek improved regulatory frameworks
Key areas include laws on systemically important banks, liquidity risks, insurance and fintechs
Limit on insured bank deposit payouts averages $50,000
One in 10 jurisdictions lack any deposit insurance fund
Two in five central banks see need for more macro-pru tools
Caps on loan-to-value ratios are respondents’ most actively used policy
AI most widely used for document preparation in financial stability
Smaller financial stability teams less likely to utilise technology
People: Bowman to chair FSB supervisory committee
Plus: New governor in DRC and Rwandan deputy governor steps aside to become PM
Central banks with resource deficiency tend to pay higher salaries
Average financial stability budget also higher in units with that report non-staff resource shortage
Financial stability staff sufficiency improves year on year
Most central banks report contentment with non-staff resources