The mission of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) is 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.
In the light of the Bank’s mission, this chapter reviews the activities of the BIS, and of the groups it hosts, for the financial year 2013/14; describes the institutional framework that supports the work of those groups; and presents the year’s financial results. In broad outline, the BIS pursues its mission by:
- promoting discussion and facilitating collaboration among central banks;
- supporting dialogue with other authorities that are responsible for promoting financial stability;
- conducting research on policy issues confronting central banks and financial supervisory authorities;
- acting as a prime counterparty for central banks in their financial transactions; and
- serving as an agent or trustee in connection with international financial operations.
The BIS promotes international cooperation among monetary authorities and financial supervisory officials through its meetings programmes and through the Basel Process – hosting international groups pursuing global financial stability (such as the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision and the Financial Stability Board) and facilitating their interaction in an efficient and cost-effective way (see below).
The BIS economic analysis, research and statistics function helps meet the needs of monetary and supervisory authorities for policy insight and data.
The BIS banking function provides prime counterparty, agent and trustee services appropriate to the BIS mission.
The BIS has its head office in Basel, Switzerland, and representative offices in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China (Hong Kong SAR) and in Mexico City.