The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) is an international organisation owned by its member central banks. Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, it opened for business on May 17, 1930. It supports monetary and financial stability through central-bank cooperation, economic analysis, banking services and technological experimentation.
Activities and governance
The BIS provides reserve-management and other financial services to central banks and eligible international institutions. It hosts committees and associations that develop policy and supervisory standards, while its Monetary and Economic Department produces research and statistics. These standards do not replace national laws or the decisions of domestic regulators.
Its governance comprises member central banks, a Board of Directors and management. Pablo Hernández de Cos became General Manager on July 1, 2025. Hélène Rey became Economic Adviser and Head of the Monetary and Economic Department on September 1, 2026; Tommaso Mancini-Griffoli became Head of the BIS Innovation Hub on March 1, 2026.
Digital finance research
The BIS Innovation Hub builds prototypes and proofs of concept with central banks and other participants. Its work includes tokenisation, payments, artificial intelligence and cyber resilience. These experiments investigate technical and practical feasibility; a prototype is not a generally available commercial service.
The May 2026 Project Agorá report describes a shared platform combining tokenised commercial-bank deposits and central-bank reserves for wholesale cross-border settlement. Other 2026 research covers privacy-enhancing digital cash in Project Aurum Phase 2 and AI-assisted inflation nowcasting in Project Spectrum. CryptoSlate has also examined BIS research on stablecoins, sovereign funding markets and tokenised bank money.
Access and limitations
The BIS does not accept deposits from, or provide financial services or advice to, private individuals or corporate entities. Its public reports and contact channels do not constitute a retail account-opening service. Policy analysis and experimental results should be read with their stated assumptions, legal context and limitations.
