Markets Committee

About the Markets Committee

The Markets Committee is the BIS's longest-standing committee. It was established in 1962 as the Committee on Gold and Foreign Exchange, following the formation of the so-called Gold Pool. Subsequently, members continued to meet and exchange views on market issues in an open and informal manner.

Over time, the Committee has widened its discussion to focus on assessing current events in core markets such as money, government bond and FX markets more generally. It also discusses longer-term structural trends that may have implications for financial market functioning and central bank operations.

Initiatives and global collaboration

In addition to its meetings, the Markets Committee sponsors longer-term efforts to deepen knowledge in particular areas through workshops and working groups. These initiatives involve central bank staff and typically result in a Markets Committee publication.

The Committee also oversees the collection of the statistics on foreign exchange turnover that are part of the Triennial Survey. And it serves as a conduit between BIS Governors and the Global Foreign Exchange Committee (GFXC) by receiving an annual update from the GFXC and participating in the triennial review of the FX Global Code – a set of global principles for good practice in the foreign exchange markets.