Central banks worldwide

Hong Kong is stepping up efforts to make sustainable finance more accessible to SMEs: Phase 2B of the Hong Kong Taxonomy is out for public consultation, the green and sustainable debt grant scheme now covers advisory costs, and a free GHG emissions calculator is being expanded with Southeast Asian emission factors.

The HKMA is exploring a 7-day offshore RMB liquidity tendering mechanism and plans to issue offshore RMB short-term debt instruments. It will also test tokenisation of Exchange Fund Bills and support regular government digital bond issuance.

The HKMA will keep evolving the Hong Kong Taxonomy (Phase 2B is a milestone, not a destination), is developing transition planning guidelines for banks, and will work with industry to scale Taxonomy adoption and interoperability.

Today's resilience may not imply tomorrow's immunity; the RBI will stay vigilant on emerging vulnerabilities and keep the financial system strong, using prudent regulation, risk-based supervision, macroprudential tools and scenario analysis.

The rupee's cumulative 13% depreciation looks like a temporary overcorrection; the RBI will keep forex markets orderly and has the wherewithal to meet decades' worth of CAD. There is a fair case for the rupee to stabilize or even appreciate, with capital inflows turning favourable from later this financial year.

Indian payment system providers and network operators should begin moving towards quantum-proofing payment systems. The RBI will keep applying the principle that similar activities creating similar risks face similar regulatory treatment, and is examining responses to its discussion paper on authorised push payment frauds.

BNM is exploring how regulation and supervision can be better calibrated to support the energy transition, including 'room to play' for financial institutions to take higher risks responsibly, as part of its strategies through 2030.

Bank Negara Malaysia will soft launch SSDS+ on 25 September 2026. Together with FAST+, it will provide infrastructure for issuance, settlement and safekeeping of tokenised bonds and sukuk.

BNM's Financial Sector Blueprint 2027-2030 will support national aspirations, and regulators will shift from regulating what exists to enabling what should exist. Islamic finance should channel capital to productive, higher-value sectors.

The Central Bank will consult on changes to the governance of fund management companies early next year, and expects firms to have tested exit strategies and board-level understanding of third-party dependencies.

As the Central Bank thinks about its next Strategy beyond 2027, it will build capabilities ahead of need and plan for several plausible futures rather than one predicted future, balancing near-term delivery with long-term stewardship.

Central banks and regulators will shape the future of payments in partnership with the private sector, enabling innovation while safeguarding trust and stability; central bank money must remain the settlement anchor, backed by Pontes, Appia and the digital euro.

Over the next year the SARB will strengthen its data and analysis, including integrating climate data into regulatory data, monitoring ISSB disclosure adoption, and launching a climate risk dashboard to be expanded with green asset, nature and social indicators.

Policy will be kept tight enough so that a temporary energy supply shock does not produce persistently higher inflation. The SARB has raised its policy rate and expects inflation to slow significantly next year, returning to the 3% target around the end of next year.

Policy leadership requires rigorous analysis, independence under pressure, and humility; protecting institutional credibility and central bank independence is paramount, as shown by the move to a lower 3% inflation target.

Europe needs to act strategically on digital sovereignty now to reach the 'Premier League' of frontier AI, including creating an 'AI Airbus': a European corporation building on an existing open-source model, hosted on European infrastructure, with at least one more European-trained LLM beyond Mistral.

The digital euro is expected to be approved in Brussels this year, with an additional payment option available from 2029. Pension reform, including linking retirement age to life expectancy and ending reduction-free early retirement, is needed to raise growth.

The digital euro legislative framework is expected to be finalised by end-2026, with the Eurosystem on track to launch the digital euro in 2029. A wholesale CBDC settlement solution (tokenised euro) went live the day before the speech.

Returning inflation fully to target has taken long because the Committee balanced reducing inflation against sustaining employment; stronger wage growth sustains inflation, services prices are rarely cut, and elevated inflation can raise expectations and persistence.

It will likely be necessary to keep the policy rate elevated for a time, and the Committee is prepared to raise the policy rate further if needed to bring inflation down to target within a reasonable time horizon.

A restrictive stance is needed to return inflation to target. The June forecast implied a rise from 4.25% to just above 4.5% by year-end, but inflation has been lower than projected, so a hike may still be necessary. Prudent easing later, with no significantly lower rate ahead.

Banca d'Italia continues to preserve gold as a strategic component of its balance sheet. Gold price volatility has risen substantially and warrants close monitoring, as does financial innovation such as tokenisation.

Central banks should remain pragmatic and data driven; in a period of rapid structural change from AI, actual developments in demand, activity and inflation should carry greater weight than neutral rate estimates in guiding policy.

Monetary policy must avoid committing to a predetermined path and must keep monitoring geopolitics, energy markets, supply chains, wages and inflation expectations. The June 25bp hike was judged robust across scenarios.

Enhancing cross-border payments is necessary but not sufficient for African resilience; interoperability, common standards such as ISO20022, regulatory harmonisation and robust risk safeguards are needed, and unfettered stablecoin use could undermine monetary sovereignty and financial stability.

Mauritius aims to position its IFC as a trusted regional hub for cross-border payments, aggregation, settlement and treasury, connecting rather than replacing African payment systems, with interoperability (e.g. ISO 20022) and risk-based, consistently enforced AML/CFT standards.

Monetary policy will remain forward-looking and data-dependent; the MPC stands ready to take further action to keep inflation expectations anchored and return inflation to the 2-5% target range within a reasonable horizon, after raising the Key Rate 25 bps to 4.75% in May 2026.

Banks must submit Board-approved strategies with measurable key result areas by early October to embed the Tenfold Growth Strategy pillars in 2026/27 work plans; Bank of Uganda will track delivery and measure results at next year's conference.

The Bank will keep a stable macroeconomic environment and act proactively to hold core inflation around its 5 percent target. It will keep strengthening the legal, regulatory and operational frameworks for money, FX and government securities markets.

Cybersecurity should be treated as a national capability and a macroeconomic issue. Security must be built in by design, with cross-sector collaboration and a shared resilience baseline extended beyond banks to telecoms, government and utilities.

The NBS will enable innovation (open banking and open finance, instant payments, SEPA) and simplify its own processes, but trust, security and system stability are its red line. Responsibility for AI-driven decisions stays with institutions and people.

The NBS will act as guardian and guarantor of the financial order, with supervision enforcing trust and resilience. New laws on credit institutions, insurance and financial conglomerates aim to ensure rules keep pace with development and risk.

Keeping the key policy rate at 5.75% preserves the restrictive monetary stance and leaves room to respond should risks materialise; holding is an active decision based on risk assessment and the medium-term projection.

The Spanish Survey of Household Finances (EFF) is more necessary than ever and should specialise in behavioural aspects not captured by administrative records. Borrower-based measures such as LTV or LSTI limits require prior micro-level distributional analysis.

Addressing Spain's housing affordability problems requires a coordinated, lasting public-policy strategy focused on structural reforms that increase housing supply, especially where demand is highest. Temporary, targeted demand-side measures can only play a complementary role.

Banco de Portugal will remain vigilant on real estate risks and keep strengthening its financial stability frameworks, treating the FSAP recommendations as a roadmap for continuous improvement. Some initiatives are underway; others need further analysis and coordination.

Banco de Portugal is committed to assessing the FSAP recommendations and working with stakeholders on follow-up and implementation. Some items may need legislative changes, and resilience requires continued vigilance and adaptation.

The Bank of Thailand will introduce a Framework on Safeguarding the Financial Sector from Illicit Activities, adding scrutiny of cash deposits above 5 million baht and limits on cash gold purchases above 10 million baht, and will continue tackling fraud and scams beyond the Annual Meetings.

In the near term, macro policies must safeguard stability against shocks; well-anchored inflation expectations give many economies, including Thailand, some policy space, but we must remain cautious.

With regional guidelines on cybersecurity, climate risk and cross-border crisis management finalized, the focus must shift from drafting to implementation, including simulating and testing cross-border crisis frameworks before a real crisis hits.

Inflation risks have not disappeared, and policy decisions will continue to depend on incoming data and evolving global conditions.

The central bank will remain hawkish: low inflation does not come for free, so mortgages will be more expensive than people have been used to.

When things go unexpectedly well or move in one direction for several years, central banks should be on guard and keep a conservative policy stance as a precaution. Central banks must stay committed to sound money and not concede in advance to fiscal dominance.

Regulators must keep pace with AI-driven change. MAS has issued draft Guidelines for AI Risk Management for consultation, expects findings on AI-based scam detection by end of this year, and will push firms toward multi-layered cyber defences and AI-enabled cyber defence.

The April and July policy decisions together give a stronger appreciation of the Singapore dollar to lean against incoming inflation. MAS stays vigilant and is well-positioned to respond to maintain medium-term price stability and curb excess S$NEER volatility.

Central banks should welcome new payment technology such as stablecoins and tokenised deposits but not rest on their laurels. They must ensure appropriate regulation, public-private cooperation and payment system resilience, and make sure a shift to decentralised ledgers does not happen too quickly.

The Riksbank's responsibility remains ensuring security and stability in the monetary system by maintaining confidence in the krona, keeping inflation low and stable, and safeguarding cash access. It recommends households hold around SEK 1,000 in cash per adult at home.

Policy is set through scenario analysis, weighing oil prices and a possible El Niño, and close attention to inflation expectations, which must stay anchored around the 3% target. The BSP will take unpopular decisions where needed.

Upside inflation risks have increased, requiring vigilance and a steady commitment to price stability. Monetary policy must ensure temporary energy shocks do not become embedded in inflation expectations and wage-setting.

Further progress towards a single-A rating for Greece before 2030 requires continued improvements in institutional quality; the favourable interest rate-growth differential is expected to sustain benign debt dynamics over the medium term.

The MPC will assess incoming data, inflation expectations and global and domestic developments. If upside risks materialise or expectations move further from the target, the Committee stands ready to act to return inflation to the target range.

Demographic change announces itself decades in advance, so it can be anticipated; Korea, at the core of the AI ecosystem and benefiting from semiconductor production and AI-driven investment, should prepare now rather than postpone.

Small open economies should move beyond resilience by making choices before shocks arrive: where to build redundancy and diversification, which buffers to hold, and how to finance resilience without undermining fiscal and debt sustainability.

The CBCG aims to be fully ready before Montenegro joins the EU, entering the observer phase in ESCB committees after the Accession Treaty is signed in the coming months, and later joining the Eurosystem.

Buffers must be built before they are needed: reserve accumulation should be patient, disciplined and consistent with macroeconomic stability, with liquidity and safety kept as the anchor and diversification purposeful rather than an objective in itself.

We will decisively maintain our tight monetary policy stance until price stability is achieved in line with our interim targets, and continue to use all tools decisively.

Elevated uncertainty and cost-push shocks pose challenges for monetary policy; a delayed response to inflationary pressures can be theoretically justified, particularly given recession dominance concerns relevant to the National Bank of Romania.

The NBU stands ready to respond flexibly to changes in risks. If risks to prices and inflation expectations intensify significantly, it will deploy additional measures to curb inflation; if security deterioration sharply slows demand and the labor market, it will consider easing.

SAMA will keep enabling fintech innovation through shared infrastructure, faster time-to-market and a stable, inclusive financial system, while deepening engagement with global regulators on stablecoins and virtual assets to assess risks and develop safeguards.

Europe should deepen economic ties with Asia on an open, rules-based and reciprocal basis, and strengthen its competitiveness and sovereignty as the priority response to global challenges.

Looking through first-round inflation effects of chokepoint disruptions remains appropriate as long as the risk of inflation expectations de-anchoring stays low.

Central banks cannot make Europe's investment decisions but can protect the stability on which investment depends through price stability, financial stability, risk analysis and trust. Uncertainty should sharpen investment selection, not delay it.

Switzerland should address its housing shortage mainly by making better use of existing residential areas: unlocking unused building-zone land, speeding permits, harmonising construction codes, reforming rent regulation and raising recurrent property taxes.

UK devolution will only raise productivity if greater local responsibility is matched by stronger local institutional capacity and more predictable funding.

France should pursue a credible multi-year fiscal consolidation of more than EUR 100 billion, relying mainly on spending control with a temporary contribution from revenues.

GPF 2026 must translate dialogue into action, generating practical commitments, partnerships and policy solutions, including the Inclusive Green Finance Global Compact to mobilize and scale policy and financing for climate-vulnerable, small and frontier economies.

Asia should diversify finance away from banks, deepen intra-regional trade in final goods by cutting non-tariff barriers, and lean more on services and AI for growth.

Adaptation is a second-best policy; the first-best is limiting warming by accelerating the transition to net zero. NGFS research shows inaction costs more than action, and a timely, ambitious, orderly transition lowers the economic impact.