International
Wholesale CBDCs may not fix cross-border frictions – panellists
Policy-makers question whether CBDCs will make international payments faster and cheaper
High income countries report greater numbers of licensed fintech firms
Some jurisdictions host many licensed fintech firms but others have none
‘Do no harm’: central bankers warn against rush to issue CBDC
Agustín Carstens, Jerome Powell and Jens Weidmann highlight risks of acting too fast
Central banks struggle to retain fintech talent
Private sector competition lures employees away
Currency services: Crane Currency
The firm supported the needs of clients throughout the pandemic, while continuing to innovate with the launch of micro-optic security features
Financial market infrastructure services: Bloomberg
Bloomberg’s responsive deployment of new liquidity capabilities helped emerging-market central banks cope with pandemic market disruption
Currency services initiative: CCL Secure
The banknote substrate provider is making a concerted effort to reduce its environmental impact by optimising production processes and building a recycling plant in Mexico
ECB’s de Guindos calls for prompt action on climate change
ECB warns of “systemic risk” as it unveils preliminary results of eurozone-wide climate stress test
Future of cash: what we can learn from the history of money
Central banks must take a broad view of efficiency if they are to preserve the benefits of cash, says Antti Heinonen
Pandemic likely to worsen market concentration – IMF research
Authors warn rising market power tends to impair monetary and fiscal policy
Lifetime achievement: Charles Goodhart
The LSE and BoE veteran economist has his own ‘law’, and played a key role in the establishment of monetary policy in the UK, Hong Kong’s peg and the ‘New Zealand model’, which influenced a generation of central bankers
Global markets award: BNP Paribas
The bank shone across a wide range of business areas and regions during the turbulence of Covid-19
New monetary frameworks involve risk trade-offs – IMF’s Adrian
Lower-for-longer rates may help to avoid deflation, but could contribute to medium-term volatility
IMF delays SDR valuation review
Delay reflects priority placed on Covid-19 response and possible clash with other workstream
Governor of the year: Alejandro Díaz de León
Díaz de León has upheld the authority, integrity and independence of the Bank of Mexico against significant external and internal pressures
Innovation in reserve management: World Bank Treasury/ANZ Bank
The pair developed a Swift-based messaging app to manage faster and safer cash operations for central bank members of Ramp at the height of the pandemic
Asset manager: BNP Paribas Asset Management
The European asset manager has leveraged its focus on official institutions, expertise in MBS, training, reporting and ESG compliance to grow its business with central banks
Climate portfolio services: RepRisk
The Swiss company’s machine learning tool checks reports on 160,000 companies daily from a host of sources in 20 languages to offer central banks and SWFs early warnings on climate-related risks
Climate initiative: HSBC
The UK bank is working closely with central banks and other official institutions to support the transition towards a greener global system
Fintech use shows international gender gap – BIS paper
Women use fintech less than men but reasons for this are unclear, survey finds
Big data in central banks 2020–21 report: shifting to centre stage
The Covid-19 shock made big data a key input into policy at a time when data governance appears to be improving and central banks are embracing cloud technology
BIS paper proposes solution to ‘runnable brown assets’
Central bank liquidity backstop could boost stability and encourage firms to go green, authors say
Cyber attacks on finance increased sharply during pandemic – BIS
Increased use of cloud could increase firms’ vulnerability, researchers warn
The untapped potential of transaction data
Covid-19 has highlighted the need for central banks to have more timely information, questioning whether high-frequency indicators are being used to their full potential.