Benchmarking
Central banks set monetary policy around eight times a year
African central banks reported setting monetary policy less frequently than peers
Strategies for change: central banks’ quest for diversity
Dedicated diversity strategies remain uncommon among central banks, despite growing recognition of the need for better minority representation
Press conferences tend to be held for every monetary policy decision
The events can be a valuable tool for policy transparency and clarity
In-depth reports less frequent than monetary policy meetings
Over 80% of central banks set monetary policy without always publishing in-depth reports
Central banks divided on publishing policy meeting minutes
Central banks in advanced economies more likely to publish minutes
Policy-maker votes largely kept secret
Most central banks do not reveal how individual monetary policy-makers vote
Payments Benchmarks 2021 report – executive summary
Insights into staffing, mandates, oversight and RTGS management
Governance Benchmarks 2021 – presentation
Central Banking’s governance subject matter specialist Dan Hardie speaks with Christopher Jeffery about policy committees, governor salaries and terms, and board compositions and functions
Policy-makers and staff often determine headline forecasts
Joint approach may help conquer systemic bias
Majority of central banks do not take account of forecast errors
Surveys of inflationary expectations used widely, alongside macroeconomic and market indicators
Majority of central banks have power to issue debt for monetary purposes
Central banks pointed to draining liquidity as a reason for issuing debt
FX market intervention key tool for emerging market economies
Central bank markets departments perform a wide range of different roles
Communications Benchmarks 2021 – presentation
Central Banking’s communications subject matter specialist Daniel Hinge speaks with Christopher Jeffery about communications staffing and salaries, effective approaches and favoured channels
Asset purchase programmes prevalent among advanced economies
But just 17% of emerging market economies said they operate a purchase programme
Majority of central banks use corridors to set market rates
A handful use floors due to unconventional policy, and some use other methods
Salaries higher for monetary policy staff than markets specialists
Budgets for monetary operations/markets teams were larger, but monetary policy staff were slightly better compensated
Payments Benchmarks 2021 report – looking forward to a digital future
Benchmarking data offer insights on mandates, staffing structure, oversight of payment services, and RTGS design and management
Majority of retail payment systems lack real-time processing and settlement
Over half of RPSs in emerging market economies were owned by central banks, but in advanced economies this fell to less than a quarter
Majority of central banks charge RTGS usage fee
Annual cost of running RTGS systems ranged between $35,000 to over $16 million
Third parties often develop RTGS technology
Seventy-one percent of respondents said the technology underpinning their RTGS system was developed solely by a third party or in collaboration with the central bank
Payments department responsible for oversight of payments infrastructure
Heads of payments systems oversight often report to departmental head, but some report directly to the governor
Central banks look set to upgrade RTGS systems in the next 12 months
Nine central banks said they are planning ISO 20022 adoption
Viruses of a different kind: bolstering central bank IT frameworks
Remote working on a large scale had never been done before, but central banks appear to have successfully adapted IT and cyber frameworks
Mastercard and Visa dominate card scheme market
Number of operational card schemes ranges from zero to 10