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BIS (Bank for International Settlements)

The Bank for International Settlements is the central bank of central banks and the convening venue for the prudential and payment-system standards that wrap institutional tokenisation. For tokenisation readers, three BIS arms matter most: the BIS Innovation Hub, which runs the multi-jurisdictional pilot programme that has produced mBridge, Project Agorá, Project Mariana and others; the Basel Committee, which sets the SCO60 prudential capital regime for bank holdings of tokenised and unbacked crypto-assets; and the BIS Monetary and Economic Department, which has produced most of the institutional-economics framing of stablecoins, tokenised deposits, and CBDC. The Annual Economic Report 2025 (24 June 2025 press release; full chapter 29 June 2025) carries Chapter III "The next-generation monetary and financial system", the BIS's most explicit blueprint to date for the tokenised monetary system (covered as a separate theme). The April 2026 period brought a dense set of senior appointments alongside the substantive speech and standard-setting activity, and operators should track the appointments as carefully as the policy text.

Role in tokenisation

  • BIS Innovation Hub. Cross-border tokenisation pilots, currently led by Andréa Maechler (acting) pending Tommaso Mancini-Griffoli's start in March 2026 (see below).
  • Basel Committee SCO60. The capital regime that determines whether and how a bank can hold tokenised assets on balance sheet. Targeted review under way; GHOS endorsed the targeted review in March 2026.
  • BIS Annual Economic Report 2025, Chapter III. The "unified ledger" blueprint argues for a tokenised monetary system built on tokenised central-bank reserves plus tokenised commercial-bank money plus tokenised government bonds on a shared programmable platform with atomic settlement, and explicitly frames stablecoins as failing the singleness, elasticity, and integrity tests for serving as the mainstay of the monetary system (BIS press release, 24 Jun 2025; AER 2025 Chapter III). See BIS unified-ledger blueprint.
  • BIS speeches as policy signalling venue. Hernández de Cos's "Stablecoins: framing the debate" speech at a Bank of Japan seminar (20 April 2026) is the most recent set-piece on stablecoins. Maechler's "How deposits can harness tokenisation" speech at the Singapore Fintech Festival (12 November 2025) is the most recent set-piece on tokenised deposits.

Recent activity

Senior appointments and leadership transitions

  • 16 Apr 2026. Statement on the appointment of Hyun Song Shin as Governor of the Bank of Korea (formal confirmation).
  • 27 Mar 2026. John C. Williams (FRBNY) extended as Chair of the Markets Committee.
  • 22 Mar 2026. Hyun Song Shin nominated as Governor of the Bank of Korea, steps back from BIS duties with immediate effect. Frank Smets serves as Acting Head, Monetary and Economic Department.
  • 17 Mar 2026. Ben Gully appointed Secretary General of the Basel Committee, three-year term starting August. Currently Deputy Superintendent at OSFI Canada.
  • 16 Mar 2026. Hélène Rey appointed Economic Adviser and Head of the Monetary and Economic Department, five-year term, effective September 2026. Comes from London Business School.
  • 9 Feb 2026. François Villeroy de Galhau (Bank of France) to step down as Chair of the BIS Board of Directors at start of June 2026.
  • 25 Nov 2025. Tommaso Mancini-Griffoli appointed Head of the BIS Innovation Hub. Joins from IMF (Assistant Director, Payments, Currencies and Infrastructure). Starts 1 March 2026.
  • 12 Nov 2025. Christine Lagarde (ECB) to succeed Jerome Powell as Chair of the Global Economy Meeting and Economic Consultative Committee from May 2026.

Substantive speeches

  • 20 Apr 2026. Pablo Hernández de Cos. "Stablecoins: framing the debate". Bank of Japan seminar, Tokyo. (Speech notice only ingested.)
  • 24 Mar 2026. Alexandre Tombini. "Money, digital assets and payments in the Americas". Banking Convention, Cancún.
  • 30 Jan 2026. Hyun Song Shin. "Money as a coordination device: some historical lessons". 14th ILF Conference.
  • 26 Jan 2026. Tao Zhang. "The financial stability implications of artificial intelligence and digital finance". Asian Financial Forum, Hong Kong.
  • 12 Nov 2025. Andréa Maechler. "How deposits can harness tokenisation". Singapore Fintech Festival.
  • 8 Oct 2025. Tao Zhang. "Artificial intelligence and central banks". Global Fintech Fest, Mumbai.
  • 24 Jun 2025. BIS Annual Economic Report 2025 published. Chapter III "The next-generation monetary and financial system" carries the unified-ledger blueprint as the BIS's most explicit positioning on the architecture of a tokenised monetary system (press release; chapter).
  • Multiple Hernández de Cos lectures across November 2025 to March 2026 covering fiscal threats, central-bank mandates, and streamlining financial regulation. Useful as the agenda-setting record for the General Manager's tenure.

Standard-setting and committees

  • 16 Apr 2026. CPMI-IOSCO assess UK PFMI implementation for systemic payment systems and CSDs/SSSs.
  • 24 Mar 2026. Basel III monitoring exercise: liquidity ratios up, capital and leverage stable; cryptoasset exposures dashboard expanded.
  • 9 Mar 2026. GHOS welcomes Basel III implementation progress and endorses targeted reviews of cryptoasset and G-SIB standards.
  • 26 Feb 2026. Basel Committee consults on a consolidated version of its guidelines (comments by 26 Jun 2026).
  • 25 Feb 2026. Basel Committee discusses recent market developments and a targeted review of the cryptoasset standard.
  • 17 Feb 2026. Basel Committee publishes analysis of synthetic risk transfers.
  • 12 Dec 2025. BCBS-IOSCO publish assessment of margin requirements for non-centrally cleared derivatives.
  • 10 Dec 2025. Basel Committee publishes principles for the sound management of third-party risk.
  • 5 Dec 2025. Basel Committee consults on standard format for machine-readable disclosures (comments by 5 Mar 2026).
  • 27 Nov 2025. Basel Committee publishes more details on the 2025 G-SIB assessment.
  • 19 Nov 2025. Basel Committee meets in Mexico City, agrees to expedite targeted review of the cryptoasset standard, approves third-party risk principles.
  • 11 Nov 2025. BIS-SARB announce winners of G20 TechSprint 2025 challenge.
  • 7 Nov 2025. CPMI-IOSCO publish implementation monitoring report and consultative report on FMI management of general business risks.

Open questions

  • Substantive content of the Hernández de Cos stablecoins speech and the Maechler "How deposits can harness tokenisation" speech is not in the ingested record. Both warrant fetch.
  • Whether the GHOS-endorsed targeted review of the cryptoasset standard will revisit the Group 1a / Group 2 split or only adjust calibration around it.
  • Whether the BIS Innovation Hub leadership transition under Mancini-Griffoli signals a re-prioritisation of the cross-border tokenisation portfolio post-mBridge graduation.

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