Bank for International Settlements

Bank for International Settlements, market fragmentation

Market fragmentation can arise for a variety of reasons. Fragmented markets can reflect a range of natural barriers and frictions. These can include investor preferences as to the location of…

Institutional crypto weekly roundup

September 23, 2019

Bank for International Settlements, Benoît Cœuré, blockchain, CPMI, Finteum, Fnality, FX, stablecoins, utility settlement coin

Fnality builds on utility settlement coin for FX trading without settlement risk Fnality and blockchain platform Finteum announced they are working together to deliver interoperability between the Finteum application, built…

Institutional crypto weekly roundup

September 19, 2019

Bank for International Settlements, BIS, blockchain, BNY Mellon, CPMI, crypto derivatives, crypto regulation, digital asset servicing, stablecoins, VanEck

Our weekly list of announcements about how capital markets participants and regulators are engaging with digital assets. Reuters: Germany passes blockchain strategy to fight parallel currencies Germany has passed a…

BIS: Geographic spread of currency trading: the renminbi and other EM currencies

August 28, 2019

Bank for International Settlements, Renminbi, reserve currency

BIS Working Papers | No 806 | 27 August 2019 by Yin-Wong Cheung, Robert N McCauley and Chang Shu Increasing use of the renminbi outside China by residents of the rest of…

BIS discusses competitive advantages between bigtech and large banks, and regulatory options

June 24, 2019

Bank for International Settlements, bigtech

Financial services both benefit from and fuel the DNA feedback loop. Offering financial services can complement and reinforce big techs’ commercial activities. The typical example is payment services, which facilitate…

Highlights from BIS’ 970-page tome on big data for central banks

June 4, 2019

artificial intelligence, Bank for International Settlements, Big Data, Central Banks, machine learning

Big Data, Technology

Getting the most out of big data and the advanced technologies used to make sense of it is no trivial task for central banks, and in a recently released report,…

BIS research: bigtech and the changing structure of financial intermediation

April 8, 2019

News and Notes, News and Notes – Fintech

Bank for International Settlements, bigtech, credit, data analysis, fintech, machine learning, Mercado Libre

In a BIS working paper, researchers from the Financial Stability Board, Bank for International Settlements, Graduate Institute (Geneva) and Argentina’s bigtech firm Mercado Libre consider the drivers and implications of…

BIS: bitcoin algo running into an expensive wall

January 21, 2019

Bank for International Settlements, bitcoin

A new BIS paper discusses the economics of how bitcoin achieves data immutability, and thus payment finality, via costly computations, also known as “proof-of-work”. Further, it explores what the future…

BIS survey shows 2 central banks may issue crypto soon

January 9, 2019

Bank for International Settlements, CBDC

The hypothetical benefits and risks of central bank digital currencies are being widely discussed. This survey from the Bank for International Settlements adds to these discussions by taking stock of how…

BIS’ Carstens: big tech’s use of ML for credit scoring could disadvantage banks

January 6, 2019

Bank for International Settlements, Big Tech, China, credit, machine learning, People's Bank of China

Excerpts from speech by Agustín Carstens, general manager of the Bank for International Settlements, at the FT Banking Summit, London, 4 December 2018 In contrast to banks, big tech firms…

BIS research on market impact of central bank non-monetary news

December 6, 2018

Bank for International Settlements, Big Data, Central Banks

In a BIS working paper, researchers Anna Cieslak and Andreas Schrimpf quantify the importance of non-monetary news in central bank communication. Using evidence from four major central banks and a comprehensive…

BIS chief says crypto and DLT destination should come before the road

November 26, 2018

Bank for International Settlements, blockchain, cryptocurrencies, DLT

Excerpts from speech by Agustín Carstens, general manager, Bank for International Settlements, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, Singapore, 15 November 2018 We take a public policy view of…

DLT and large value payments: a global game approach

November 12, 2018

Bank for International Settlements, DLT, Payments

Summary of slides presented by Stephen Morris (Princeton University) and Hyun Song Shin (Bank for International Settlements) at the Conference on Cryptocurrencies and Blockchains, University of Chicago Becker Friedman Institute,…

BIS’ Carstens says central banks adopting DLT for cyber resilience, flags AI and quantum risks

November 5, 2018

AI, Bank for International Settlements, cybersecurity, DLT, quantum

Excerpts from speech by Agustín Carstens, general manager, Bank for International Settlements, Finance and Global Economics Forum of the Americas, University of Miami Business School, 1 November 2018 Money and…

Financial authorities put fintech, regtech, suptech on global agenda ahead of G20

November 5, 2018

Bali Fintech Agenda, Bank for International Settlements, cybersecurity, FSB, FSI, G20

The Financial Stability Board (FSB) Regional Consultative Group (RCG) for Asia met in Sydney, Australia at a meeting hosted by the Reserve Bank of Australia to discuss cybersecurity and the…

Fintech credit growth challenges practitioners and policymakers

September 25, 2018

Bank for International Settlements, Credit Markets, fintech

Fintech credit has grown rapidly since its inception in 2005. Fintech credit volumes per capita appear to reflect a number of factors. The economy’s overall development, the competitiveness of the…

BIS: how central banks adapt to fast-paced electronic markets

September 19, 2018

Bank for International Settlements, Central Banks, High Frequency Trading, market monitoring

Trading in foreign exchange and other fast-paced electronic markets is increasingly spread across a range of platforms, with non-bank intermediaries, most notably principal trading firms, gaining a stronger foothold. In…

BIS warns on bank window-dressing of repo at reporting periods

June 26, 2018

News and Notes, News and Notes – Fintech

Bank for International Settlements, Basel III, window-dressing

The Basel III leverage ratio is reported based on quarter-end figures in some jurisdictions, but is calculated based on daily averages during the quarter in others. It’s an example of…

Finalizing Basel III: the revised Leverage Ratio gets a thumbs down and really isn’t final anyhow

December 11, 2017

Basel III, Regulatory

Bank for International Settlements, Basel Committee, Basel III, Leverage Ratio, SFTs, Supplementary Leverage Ratio, Tier 1 capital, topstory

The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision released their “final” Basel III post-crisis reform documentation last week, and there is a lot to unpack. Already, the Quantitative Impact Study shows that…

Our thoughts on CCPs and repo market efficiencies

December 6, 2017

Basel III, CCP, Repo, RRP, Tri-Party Repo

Bank for International Settlements, BIS, DTCC, FICC, GCF, Repo, topstory, tri-party

The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) had a piece in their just-released Quarterly Review on CCPs and repo market efficiencies. The question is whether they help or hurt. This is…

BIS explains central bank cryptocurrencies

September 18, 2017

News and Notes, News and Notes – Fintech

Bank for International Settlements, Central Banks, cryptocurrencies

Bank for International Settlements, Funding/Liquidity, systemic risk, topstory

New cryptocurrencies are emerging almost daily, and many interested parties are wondering whether central banks should issue their own versions. But what might central bank cryptocurrencies (CBCCs) look like and…

Get ahead on key issues with Finadium research: an example from the BIS Annual Report

July 12, 2017

Richard Stinchfield

Cash management, Collateral Management, ECB, Europe, Liquidity Management, Market infrastructure, Money Market Funds, Pro-cyclicality, Regulatory, Repo, Risk Management, Systemic Risk

The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) released their 87th annual report on June 25th including an important section on risks in the US dollar funding market. The section outlines concerns…

BIS publishes 2016 annual report

June 27, 2016

86th Annual Report, 2015/16 26 June 2016 There is an urgent need to rebalance policy in order to shift to a more robust and sustainable global expansion and address accumulated…

A look at the latest OTC derivatives statistics from the BIS

May 18, 2016

CCP, Delta One, Derivatives

Bank for International Settlements, ISDA, OTC derivatives, topstory

The Bank for International Settlements recently published its statistics on OTC derivatives trading activity as of end-December 2015. While the headline figure is an 11% decline in OTC activity from…

New from the BIS: the impact of CCP margin policies on repo markets

October 12, 2015

CCP, Collateral Management, Europe, Market infrastructure, Repo

Bank for International Settlements, BIS, CCP, Italy, LCH.Clearnet, MTS, Repo, topstory

As regulators continue their push/pull with moving collateralized trading business onto CCPs (they’re good for risk management, but wait, they’re also the next too-big-to-fail institutions!), the Bank of International Settlements…

BIS releases OTC derivatives statistics at end-December 2014

May 1, 2015

Bank for International Settlements, OTC derivatives

April 30, 2015 The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) today released OTC derivatives statistics at end-December 2014. OTC derivatives markets contracted in the second half of 2014. The notional amount…

Good to see central bankers looking closely at their own role in the collateral markets

April 16, 2015

Collateral Management, Liquidity Management

Bank for International Settlements, BIS, Central Banks, collateral management, topstory

We’ve had central banks on the brain lately, so a new paper from the Bank for International Settlements, “Central bank operating frameworks and collateral markets”, was right up our alley.…

BIS: The international monetary and financial system: Its Achilles heel and what to do about it

April 10, 2015

Presentation by Mr Claudio Borio, Head of Monetary and Economic Department of the BIS, at the INET conference “New Economic Thinking: Liberté, Égalité, Fragilité”, Paris, 9 April 2015. This essay…

BIS: Developments in collateral management services

September 10, 2014

A new report from the Bank for International Settlements Motivated by expected increases in demand for collateral stemming from regulatory changes and a greater preference for secured transactions, collateral management…

Single Treasury Futures, the Balance Sheet Impact and Client Demand

July 1, 2014

Basel III, CCP, Collateral Management, Derivatives, Single Treasury Futures

Bank for International Settlements, CCPs, Dodd-Frank, FICC, G-SIFI, OCC, Single Treasury Futures

In the last two posts on Single Treasury Futures (STFs), we reviewed the structure of the instrument as well as who might use them. In this post we will look…

BIS says markets more confident on continued support

March 18, 2013

The Bank for International Settlements published its Quarterly Review today. Extensive policy support has infused markets with a renewed sense of optimism. Continued economic weakness has led to extensive monetary…

BIS report on understanding global liquidity

February 7, 2013

Understanding Global Liquidity Sandra Eickmeier, Leonardo Gambacorta and Boris Hofmann Working Papers No 402 February 2013 We explore the concept of global liquidity based on a factor model estimated using a…

BIS: OTC derivatives volumes down 1%

November 14, 2012

Bank for International Settlements, BIS

Bank for International Settlements OTC derivatives market activity in the first half of 2012 13 November 2012 Key developments in the first half of 2012: Total notional amounts outstanding of…

BIS publishes progress report on Basel III implementation

October 9, 2012

Bank for International Settlements, Basel Committee, Basel III