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Latest benchmarking
US dollar continues to dominate central bank FX reserves
Nearly all central banks hold dollars, but emerging market reserve managers have the highest allocations
Managers predict moderate AI impact on reserves
But many reserve managers see high future potential for AI
Economics Benchmarks 2026 report – advanced analytics
AI usage is increasing, but banks still vary in their approaches
Most central banks have plenty of import coverage
There is little common ground between respondents at high or low levels of coverage
Staff strength and salary associated with size of reserves
Managers report greater satisfaction with non-staff resources than staffing levels
Inter-bank working groups
Facilitating connections between central bankers across the globe to promote the exchange of expertise and support collaboration.
Upcoming meetings include: Cyber risk management, social media in communications and upgrading forecast models.
Model banks
Economics Benchmarks 2026 – model banks analysis
Supervision Benchmarks 2026 – model banks analysis
Payments Benchmarks 2026 – model banks analysis
Strategic Planning Benchmarks 2026 – model banks analysis
Governance Benchmarks 2026 – model banks analysis
Fintech Benchmarks 2026 – model banks analysis
Risk Management Benchmarks 2026 – model banks analysis
Communications Benchmarks 2025 – model banks analysis
Monetary Policy Benchmarks 2025 – model banks analysis
Reserve Benchmarks 2025 – model banks analysis
Financial Stability Benchmarks 2025 – model banks analysis
Supervision Benchmarks 2025 – model banks analysis
Charts
Geopolitics in focus
Though inflation dynamics are still seen as the most important topic overall, geopolitical risk saw the biggest change relative to the previous benchmark, from 2024. On a five-point scale, economics departments rated geopolitics 3.9 on average in 2026, a rise of 0.6 percentage points relative to 2024. No other topic rose by more than 0.2pp.
Reports
Economics Benchmarks 2026 report – advanced analytics
Supervision Benchmarks 2026 report – AI and data
Payments Benchmarks 2026 report – upgrades and alignment
Strategic Planning Benchmarks 2026 report – digital strategy
Governance Benchmarks 2026 – legal matters
Fintech Benchmarks 2026 report – the digital asset race
Risk Management Benchmarks 2026 report – tracking op risk
Cross-Benchmarks Staffing Report 2025: tackling shortages
Communications Benchmarks 2025 report – getting social
Cross-Benchmarks AI Report 2025: a question of creative destruction
Monetary Policy Benchmarks 2025 report – risk-based policy
Reserve Benchmarks 2025 report – tariff realignment?
Benchmarks
Communications
Currency
Economics
Financial Stability
Fintech
Governance
Monetary Policy
Payments
Reserves
Risk Management
Strategic Planning
Supervision
Economics Benchmarks 2026 – model banks analysis
Additional data breakdowns shed light on staffing, model types and AI usage
Economics departments use multiple coding languages
More than half of central banks use five or more coding languages and tools
Geopolitics is fastest-rising research topic for economists
Research economists are most widely judged on their output of papers
Economists devote up to half of working hours to research
Higher-paid research economists tend to spend more time on own research