Bank for International Settlements (BIS)

This page gives an overview of the BIS. Go to the following pages for information on some of its Standing Committees:

• Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS)
• Committee on Payment and Settlement Systems (CPSS)
• Committee on the Global Financial System (CGFS)

Why is it important?

BIS is a FSB member and hosts the FSB Secretariat among others. Via its standing committees it is involved in key areas of FSB work. Its mandate is to foster international monetary and financial cooperation and serve as a bank for central banks[1].

Organisation and membership

It is headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, with representative offices in Hong Kong and Mexico City. Governors and other senior officials of BIS member central banks meet bimonthly. The most important decision-making bodies are the General Meeting (held late June / early July, with the facility to call extraordinary meetings); Board of Directors; and Management.

Board of Directors

Chair: Christian Noyer (France)

Vice-Chair: Masaaki Shirakawa (Japan)

There are 18 members none of whom are LICs, and comprising six ex officio directors (Governors of the central banks of Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, UK, USA Federal Reserve Chair). Each may appoint another member of the same nationality. The Statutes also provide for the election to the Board of not more than nine Governors of other member central banks. The Governors of the central banks of Canada, China, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland and the ECB President are currently elected members.

The Board of Directors elects a Chair from among its members for a three-year term. The Board also elects a Vice-Chairman. Responsibilities include strategic and policy direction, supervising management, and fulfilling the specific tasks. It meets at least six times a year. Four advisory committees, made up of selected Board members, assist the Board: Administrative; Banking and Risk Management (financial objectives and business model for BIS banking operations, and risk management framework – Chair: Stefan Ingves); Audit (Chair: Mark Carney); and Nomination (appointment of the six members of the BIS Executive Committee. Chair is the Board's Chairman)

Management

General Manager: Jaime Caruana

Deputy General Manager: Hervé Hannoun

The GM (effectively CEO) carries out the policy determined by the Board of Directors and is responsible to the Board for the management of the Bank.

The heads of the three main departments are Peter Dittus (General Secretariat), Stephen Cecchetti (Monetary and Economic Department) and Günter Pleines (Banking Department). The General Counsel is Diego Devos. Other senior officials are Jim Etherington (Deputy Secretary General), Louis de Montpellier (Deputy Head of Banking) and Josef Tošovský (Chairman, Financial Stability Institute). Claudio Borio and Philip Turner are the Deputy Heads of the Monetary and Economic Department. Eli Remolona is Chief Representative, Representative Office for Asia and the Pacific, and Gregor Heinrich is Chief Representative, Representative Office for the Americas.

Membership

Members currently number 56 central banks and monetary authorities, all of which are entitled to be represented and vote in the General Meetings, and none of which are LICs[2]. Voting power is proportionate to the number of BIS shares issued in the country of each member represented at the meeting.[3]

Central banks and supervisory agencies participate in the regular meetings of Governors and senior officials (held every two months in Basel to discuss the world economy and financial markets, and exchange views on topical issues).

Other meetings of senior central bank officials focus on monetary policy, surveillance and governance. Frequent expert meetings address monetary and financial stability, legal matters, reserve management, IT systems, internal audit and technical cooperation.

Though targeted mostly at central banks, BIS meetings sometimes involve senior officials and experts from other financial market authorities, the academic community and market participants.

Research in support of the meetings is carried out primarily by BIS, with visiting researchers from central banks and academia. From time to time, the BIS organises special meetings and conferences with central bank researchers and academics.

The Financial Stability Institute (FSI)[4] organises seminars and workshops to promote dissemination of the work undertaken by the supervisory community and provide training for senior participants drawing on BCBS work.

Outreach to non-members

Cooperation with regional central bank groupings also helps to make information about BIS activities more widely known via participation in meetings by regional central bank groups and the organisation of ad hoc joint meetings or workshops. BIS offers financial services to central banks and monetary institutions in the management of foreign reserves via two linked trading rooms in Basel and Hong Kong.