BIS Publishes Annual Report and Annual Economic Report for 2019-20
BIS published the annual report and the annual economic report for 2019–20. The annual report provides a description of the activities, governance, and organization, along with the annual financial statements for 2019–20. In the annual economic report, BIS highlighted that the central banks played a key role in the unprecedented response to COVID-19 crisis during the acute phase of the pandemic, working with fiscal authorities to cushion the economic and financial blow and to support companies and workers. BIS also published speeches by the General Manager Agustín Carstens, the Economic Adviser, Head of Research Hyun Song Shin, and the Head of the Monetary and Economic Department Claudio Borio, who presented on the occasion of the BIS Annual General Meeting in Basel.
The annual report was presented by the BIS General Manager Agustín Carstens. The report provides information on response of BIS to the COVID-19 crisis, the opening of three new Innovation Hub Centers,and a dealing room in the Americas, and the contributions of BIS to combating climate change. Additionally, the report provides information on the BIS Innovation Hub 2025. The report notes that the Hub aims to build a stronger BIS that embraces continuous innovation on both the analytical and business fronts, as it considers best practices at the organization-wide level. As part of Innovation BIS 2025, BIS has articulated its ambitions to further augment its sustainability credentials. The BIS Green Team, a group of staff volunteers supported by BIS Management, was reconstituted in late 2019 to raise awareness on environmental and sustainability issues across BIS. Having analyzed the environmental footprint of BIS, the Green Team now aims to launch targeted awareness-raising initiatives in the coming months.
In the annual economic report, BIS analyzes the response of central banks to the global economic sudden stop, induced to prevent a public health disaster. It details how central banks introduced new policy tools, tailored to the specific nature of the stress, to stabilize the financial system and the economy. The report details how central banks' role as lenders of last resort has seen another important evolution. Another important feature of central banks' response was their use of prudential tools, as regulators and supervisors, to preserve the flow of bank credit to firms and households, by temporarily easing other capital and liquidity requirements and encouraging banks to make free use of capital buffers. According to the report, in the next phase of the crisis, the focus will move from liquidity to solvency, where the long-term viability of many companies will be tested. The strength of the recovery will depend on how the pandemic evolves and how much economic damage it leaves in its wake. Debt restructuring will be required as resources shift from shrinking to growing sectors. The report also features a chapter on central banks and payments in the digital era, which was released on June 24, 2020.
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Keywords: International, Banking, Annual Report, Annual Economic Report, Innovation Hub, Fintech, COVID-19, Climate Change Risk, ESG, BIS
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