From its outset in the 1930s, the BIS has also served as a think tank for central banks. In its research and publications it focuses on policy issues of interest to monetary and financial authorities. The BIS also plays an important role in compiling and disseminating statistics on the international financial system, particularly those that shed light on issues related to financial stability.
The foundations of BIS research.
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- When the BIS is set up in 1930, a Central Banking Department was opened to "study central bank policies and stimulate cooperation in this area". It was soon renamed the Monetary and Economic Department (MED). The BIS Annual Report became the primary venue for analysing the state of the world economy and financial system.
- The BIS is actively involved in the preparations of the League of Nations World Economic Conference, held in London in June-July 1933. Any hopes for a return to a renewed gold exchange standard - a move strongly supported by the BIS - are scuttled by the failure to reach a consensus.
- Throughout the Second World War, the BIS Annual Report grows considerably in size, as BIS economists collect and publish as much data and information as possible on the wartime economies. However, being cut off from developments in the Anglo-Saxon world, the BIS does not contribute to the new consensus on international monetary and financial affairs that emerges at the Bretton Woods Conference in July 1944.
Photo caption: BIS Economic Adviser Per Jacobsson and BIS Vice-President Leon Fraser at the World Economic and Monetary Conference, London, 1933.
Economic analysis in the postwar world.
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- During Europe's postwar recovery (1945-50), the BIS is called upon to analyse the economic and financial situation in a number of European countries, and to provide country-specific monetary policy advice.
- From 1959, the MED inaugurates a series of regular spring and autumn meetings of central bank economists. Typically, the spring meeting is devoted to a review of the state of the world economy, while the autumn meeting is dedicated to a particular topic of common interest.
Photo caption: The BIS Annual General Meeting, June 1955. The AGM is traditionally the occasion to present the Bank's Annual Economic Report.
Research, analysis and statistics in support of the Group of Ten.
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- In 1964, the Group of Ten countries invites the BIS to participate in a wide-ranging study on the functioning of the international monetary system and its future liquidity needs.
- In June 1964, the BIS Annual Report starts publication of eurocurrency market statistics, reflecting growing concerns among central banks over the rapid growth of these markets.
- From 1964, the newly created Gold and Foreign Exchange Committee regularly discusses developments on the international markets on the basis of statistics and reports compiled by the BIS.
- In 1971, to better monitor the development of the international eurocurrency markets, the Governors create a G10 Euro-currency Standing Committee, which meets regularly at the BIS. The MED provides secretariat services to the ECSC. It is renamed as the Committee on the Global Financial System in 1999.
- From December 1973, the BIS starts publishing quarterly eurocurrency market statistics (or locational banking statistics). From July 1983, the BIS starts publishing worldwide bank lending statistics on a consolidated basis.
- In January 1978, the BIS Data Bank is launched, an electronic repository for financial and economic time series shared between the BIS member central banks.
- In 1979, a BIS working group on international bank lending, chaired by Economic Adviser Alexandre Lamfalussy, discusses for the first time a possible macroprudential approach to financial stability issues.
- In November 1979, the BIS launches a new publications series with the publication of the first BIS Economic Paper. In April 1980, a working paper series is launched too.
Photo caption: Gold played an important role in the Bretton Woods monetary system. Graph produced by the BIS Monetary and Economic Department charting the world production of gold between 1900 and 1975.
Monitoring the global financial markets.
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- In 1980, the G10 Governors, gathered in Basel, entrust the ECSC with the systematic monitoring of international banking developments.
- In the wake of the 1982-83 Latin American sovereign debt crisis, the BIS joins forces with the OECD (and later also with the IMF and World Bank) to publish statistics on external indebtedness (currently: joint external debt hub at www.jedh.org).
- In April 1989, the BIS conducts a first global survey of foreign exchange market activity.
- In March-April 1995, the BIS conducts its first triennial central bank survey of foreign exchange and derivatives markets activity.
- In August 1996, the BIS starts publishing its Quarterly Review of International Banking and Financial Market Developments.
Photo caption: Per Jacobsson lecture in 1988 on "The International Monetary System: the next Twenty-five Years". The BIS has a tradition of bringing together practitioners and researchers from both the private and public sectors.
From left to right: Jeremy Morse (then Chairman of Lloyds Bank), C. Fred Bergsten (economist at the Institute for International Finance, Washington) and Christopher ("Kit") McMahon (former Deputy Governor of the Bank of England).
Focus on global macro-financial stability, before and after the Great Financial Crisis.
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- In August 2003, at the Jackson Hole conference for central bankers, BIS Economic Adviser William White and economist Claudio Borio present a paper articulating the BIS's emerging macroprudential perspective on financial stability issues and calling for the development of a macro-financial stability framework.
- From January 2006, the BIS hosts the Irving Fisher Committee on Central Bank Statistics (IFC), which was established in 1995 and is an affiliated member of the International Statistical Institute.
- In 2006, the MED launches a research programme focused on policy issues faced by the central banks and supervisory authorities in the Asia-Pacific region. This leads to the establishment of an Asian research network between the BIS and many Asian central banks.
- In the wake of the Great Financial Crisis (2007-09), the BIS steps up its research efforts, particularly in support of the post-crisis reform efforts coordinated through the Financial Stability Board, Basel Committee and Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures.
- In March 2013, the BIS International Data Hub becomes operational. Its goal is to facilitate the secure storage and exchange of confidential bank data between supervisory agencies and central banks in participating jurisdictions.
- In September 2014, the first of a new series of BIS Research Network meetings takes place, bringing together researchers from academia and central banks to explore long-range research issues related to banking, monetary policy, regulation and financial stability.
- In 2016, the BIS inaugurates the Alexandre Lamfalussy Senior Research Fellowship for senior leading professionals in academia and in research institutions to promote joint research on policy-relevant topics.
- In 2020, in response to the Covid-19 crisis, the BIS Bulletin series is launched. These are short, topical notes by BIS economists that provide insights on current events in banking, markets and the larger economy.
Photo caption: A meeting between MED and Communications to plan the publication of the most recent research.
