The Bank for International Settlements’ Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures (CPMI) has published its work program for 2024-25, highlighting its strategic priorities for policy, standard-setting, implementation and analytical activities.
The program’s key themes are:
- Risk management of financial market infrastructures (FMIs).
- FMIs’ practices for addressing non-default losses; margining practices in centrally cleared markets; foreign exchange settlement risk reduction and cyber and operational resilience.
- Enhancement of cross-border payments.
- The priorities under the G20 cross-border payments program, with a particular emphasis on the interlinking of fast payment systems.
- Digital innovation in payments, clearing and settlement.
- Tokenization in the context of money and payments, functionality of cross-border central bank digital currencies and central bank collaboration, and multicurrency and asset-linked stablecoin arrangements.
With its work program, the CPMI continues “to promote the safety and efficiency of payments and financial market infrastructures, advancing standard-setting work on relevant risk management.”
Fabio Panetta, Governor of the Bank of Italy and CPMI Chair said it will play a leading role in addressing “obstacles to faster, cheaper, more transparent, and inclusive cross-border payments, as well as contributing to policy-oriented thought leadership in digital innovations in payments.”
The program was developed under “the direction of the Committee Chair and endorsed by the Economic Consultative Committee.”
As covered, the Bank for International Settlements is an international financial institution which is owned by member central banks. Its primary goal is “to foster international monetary and financial cooperation while serving as a bank for central banks.”
As reported recently, Project Agorá, launched by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), a group of leading central banks and the Institute of International Finance (IIF), is requesting the private sector to join its exploration of how tokenization can enhance the functioning of wholesale cross-border payments.
The call for private sector participation in Project Agorá has begun and “will be open until 31 May 2024. Interested private sector financial institutions should submit their application. Further details can be found in the application package.”
Project Agorá is a joint public-private initiative of “the BIS, Banque de France (representing the Eurosystem), Bank of Japan, Bank of Korea, Bank of Mexico, Swiss National Bank, Bank of England, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the IIF as the private sector convener.”
