Benchmarking
Supervisors report sharp increase in AI adoption
Summarisation ranks as topmost area of application, with biggest use in larger teams
Credit risk is supervisors’ top priority
Climate and AI risks rank lowest across respondents
Europe leads in funds for deposit insurance and resolution
Supervisors from high income jurisdictions more likely to operate deposit insurance and resolution funds
African supervisory authorities tend to lack sufficient staff
Most respondents combine banking supervision in one unit
Non-central bank authorities tend to supervise non-banks
Non-banks offering credit-like products unregulated in tenth of jurisdictions
Payments Benchmarks 2026 – model banks analysis
Additional data breakdowns reveal different approaches to payments across cohorts
Payments Benchmarks 2026 – executive summary
Benchmarks show continued efforts to upgrade systems in search of better cross-border payments
Working group minutes: from AI adoption to integration
Central banks are trialling diverse use cases, but many have yet to fully embed the tech in their work
Over 70% of jurisdictions now have an instant payments system
Nearly a fifth of central banks plan to launch a system in the future
Three in 10 instant payment systems built in-house
Montran is most widely-used commercial partner for development
One in five central banks regulates stablecoins
Most respondents are indifferent on use of stablecoins for payment
Number of unplanned outages in RTGS systems doubles
Central banks with longest average downtime typically plan to upgrade system within a year
Two-thirds of RTGS systems now aligned with ISO 20022
Over 80% of central banks aligned with CPMI harmonised standards
RTGS systems with broader hours accessed by more financial firms
Number of non-banks with RTGS systems access doubles year on year
Euro ‘more appealing’ for both invoicing and reserves, ECB finds
Bank’s annual report on currency’s use draws on findings from Central Banking’s benchmarking
RTGS systems’ running costs linked to operational hours
Two-thirds of infrastructure still operational for 7–12 hours daily
RTGS systems process nearly 200 million payments on average
Transaction values average $11.6 trillion among respondents
How to deal with geopolitical risks, central banking-style
Managing the fastest-rising risk category requires a combination of old and new thinking
Number of RTGS fee-regulating central banks rises
More than two-fifths of retail payments ecosystem were diversified in 2025
Non-banks lack central bank oversight in some jurisdictions
One in five smaller central banks lack oversight on all payment systems
Some payment departments struggle with staffing capacity
Payment teams from Africa and the Americas report highest staff shortage
Payments units have median staffing of 30 FTE personnel
Central banks say they are boosting staff numbers to keep pace with evolving technology
Strategic Planning Benchmarks 2026 – model banks analysis
Additional data breakdowns shed light on different planning approaches across cohorts
Strategic Planning Benchmarks 2026 – executive summary
Data reveals shifting focus of strategic plans, plus data use and AI adoption