Bank for International Settlements

• The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) was established in 1930 in Basel, Switzerland.

• The head office is in Basel, Switzerland and there are two representative offices: in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China and in Mexico City.

BIS main building in Basel, Switzerland

• It is an international organization, created pursuant to an international treaty (The Hague Agreements of 1930).

• Its shareholding members are central banks and monetary authorities.

• The BIS has 60 member central banks, representing countries from around the world that together make up about 95% of world GDP.

Mission:

To serve central banks in their pursuit of monetary and financial stability, to foster international cooperation in those areas and to

act as a bank for central banks.

Monetary and financial stability is a precondition for sustained economic growth and prosperity.

Reflecting the public good character of this goal, the BIS also makes part of its work available free of charge to the wider public, including:• its own analyses of monetary and financial stability issues;• international banking and financial statistics that underpin policymaking, academic

research and public debate.

The customers of the BIS are central banks and international organisations. As a bank, the BIS does not accept deposits from, or provide financial services to, private individuals or corporate entities.

Organization and governance

Banking Department

Monetary and

Economic Department

General Secretariat

Monetary and Economic Department:

Undertakes research and analysis to shape the understanding of policy issues concerning central banks, provides committee support and organises key meetings of senior central bankers and other officials in charge of financial stability. In addition, the department collects, analyses and disseminates statistical information on the international financial system.

Banking Department:

Provides a range of financial services to support central banks in the management of their foreign exchange and gold reserves and invests the equity of the BIS. 

Provides the entire organisation with comprehensive corporate services, including human resources, facilities management, security, finance, communications and IT. 

General Secretariat:

Governance of BISThe governance and management of the Bank are conducted at three principal levels:General Meeting of

BIS member central banks;BIS Board of Directors; and

BIS Management

BIS member Central BanksBank of AlgeriaCentral Bank of ArgentinaReserve Bank of AustraliaCentral Bank of the Republic of AustriaNational Bank of BelgiumCentral Bank of Bosnia and HerzegovinaCentral Bank of BrazilBulgarian National BankBank of CanadaCentral Bank of ChilePeople's Bank of ChinaBank of the Republic (Colombia)Croatian National BankCzech National BankDanmarks National bank (Denmark)Bank of EstoniaEuropean Central BankBank of FinlandBank of FranceDeutsche Bundesbank (Germany)

Bank of GreeceHong Kong Monetary AuthorityMagyar Nemzeti Bank (Hungary)Central Bank of IcelandReserve Bank of IndiaBank IndonesiaCentral Bank of IrelandBank of IsraelBank of ItalyBank of JapanBank of KoreaBank of LatviaBank of LithuaniaCentral Bank of LuxembourgCentral Bank of MalaysiaBank of MexicoNetherlands BankReserve Bank of New ZealandCentral Bank of NorwayCentral Reserve Bank of PeruBank of Portugal

National Bank of the Republic of MacedoniaBangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (Philippines)National Bank of PolandNational Bank of RomaniaCentral Bank of the Russian FederationSaudi Arabian Monetary AgencyNational Bank of SerbiaMonetary Authority of SingaporeNational Bank of SlovakiaBank of SloveniaSouth African Reserve BankBank of SpainSveriges Riksbank (Sweden)Swiss National BankBank of ThailandCentral Bank of the Republic of TurkeyCentral Bank of the United Arab EmiratesBank of EnglandBoard of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (United States)

The Board of Directors may have up to 21 members, including six ex officio directors, comprising the central bank Governors of Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom and the United States. Each ex officio member may appoint another member of the same nationality. Nine Governors of other member central banks may be elected to the Board.

The Board of Directors elects a Chairman from among its members for a three-year term and may elect a Vice-Chairman.

Board of Directors

General Manager Jaime Caruana

Deputy General Manager Hervé Hannoun

Secretary General and Head of General Secretariat Peter Dittus

Head of Banking Department Peter Zöllner

Head of Monetary and Economic Department Claudio Borio

Economic Adviser and Head of Research Hyun Song Shin

General Counsel Diego Devos

Deputy Head of Monetary and Economic Department          Philip Turner

Deputy Secretary General Monica Ellis

Deputy Head of Banking Department Jean-François Rigaudy

Chairman, Financial Stability Institute Josef Tošovský

Management of the BIS

The Executive Committee

The Finance Committee

The Compliance and Operational Risk Committee

The Key Committees:

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

The Annual General Meeting (AGM) is held no later than four months after 31 March, the end of the BIS financial year. The AGM decides the distribution of the dividend and profit of the BIS, approves the annual report and the accounts of the Bank, makes adjustments in the allowances paid to Board members and selects the Bank's independent auditor.

Extraordinary General Meetings must be called in order to amend the Statutes of the Bank, change its equity capital or liquidate the Bank.

BIS Activities

The BIS promotes international cooperation among monetary authorities and financial supervisory officials through its meeting programmes and through hosting international committees and standard-setting bodies and facilitating their interaction in an efficient and cost-effective way.

The BIS research and statistics functions help meet the needs of monetary and supervisory authorities for data and policy insight.

BIS MeetingsBimonthly meetingsAt bimonthly meetings, normally held in Basel, Governors and other senior officials of BIS member central banks discuss current developments and the outlook for the world economy and financial markets. They also exchange views and experiences on issues of special and topical interest to central banks.

Other regular consultationsIn addition to the bimonthly meetings, the Bank hosts other regular consultations that variously include public and private sector representatives. The main result of these meetings is an improved understanding by participants of the developments, challenges and policies affecting various countries or markets. An atmosphere of openness, frankness and informality amongst participants is critical to the success of BIS meetings.

REPRESENTATIVE OFFICES

These Representative Offices serve as centres for BIS activities in their respective regions, strengthening relations and promoting cooperation between the BIS and regional central banks and supervisory authorities.

The offices also support BIS banking services in the Asia-Pacific region and the Americas, and provide assistance through regular visits to reserve managers of central banks.

THANK YOU