Benchmarking
Reserve managers vote BlackRock as overall best asset manager
Goldman Sachs and “other” asset management firms also score highly
High income countries less likely to tranche reserves
Overall, 72.4% of central banks divide their portfolios into liquidity and investment sections
Fewer than half of reserve managers perform liquidity stress tests
Approach tends to be more common among African and American institutions
FX reserves commonly invested in US Treasuries, bank deposits
SIBs and EU NextGeneration fund trail behind, as reserve managers avoid infrastructure and crypto
Few central banks expanded existing swap lines over the past year
Nearly one-third of new and existing lines are denominated in US dollars
Trade in other currencies will reduce USD reserves share, say managers
Over 72% of respondents believe efforts to denominate trade in other currencies will have long-term effect
External managers hired to set up new asset classes and train staff
Central banks also look to external managers to boost returns and access market intelligence
Reserve managers cut duration as top inflation-proofing strategy
No respondent reports expansion into non-conventional assets
Boards responsible for benchmark approval at most central banks
Over half of lower-middle income respondents favour investment committee over other methods
Central banks’ average import coverage ratio falls further
Upper-middle income institutions tend to have a higher ratio
Reserve management staff salaries increase by almost 6% from last year
Staff in Europe remain the best paid globally
Managers divided on sanctions effect on US dollar as reserve currency
Over 43% say it will weaken its status, but nearly 40% say it will not have meaningful long-term impact
Financial Stability Benchmarks 2023 – executive summary
Key findings of the 2023 benchmark, including resources, regulation, macro-pru, crime and future risk
Financial regulators: one, two, maybe a few?
As Jamaica moves to introduce the ‘twin peaks’ approach to financial oversight, Ben Margulies assesses some of the pros and cons
Almost all central banks run stress tests on lenders
Most respondents say they conduct tests more than once a year
Housing markets worry high income countries’ central banks
Middle income countries point to inflation and cyber crime as sources of risk
Most central banks say cross-border cyber co-operation is good
Respondents from upper-middle income countries most likely to say co-operation could improve
Most central banks report rise in cyber attacks
Majority say they co-operate well with other agencies on cyber risks
Central bank communicators at a time of transparency
Specialists discuss the evolving roles of comms staff in the policy-making process
Most central banks say AML/CFT co-operation is good
Small minority of institutions face problems working with domestic or foreign partner agencies
High income countries’ central banks more likely to say AML/CFT risks are rising
Majority of institutions from middle income countries say money laundering risks have not risen
Central banks in high income countries less likely to want NBFI reform
But many central banks in middle income nations want regulatory changes
Bank resolutions averaged 1.8 cases in last decade – central banks
Lower-middle income countries report higher mean number of resolutions
Most central banks operate in jurisdictions with deposit guarantee schemes
Few operate their country’s DGS, and some are working to reform schemes’ design