BIS opens Innovation Hub in London

The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) and the Bank of England have launched a BIS Innovation Hub in London, the fourth new Innovation Hub Centre in two years.

The BIS Innovation Hub was established in 2019 by the BIS to identify and develop insights into critical trends in financial technology of relevance to central banks, and the latest launch is part of a plan to expand the global reach of the BIS Innovation Hub, beyond the Hubs already in Singapore, Hong Kong and Switzerland.

Governor of the Bank of England Andrew Bailey said: “As a central bank, we recognise the importance of innovation for the global financial system and look to support its safe deployment wherever possible.

“This requires collaboration between public authorities in all jurisdictions, and the BIS Innovation Hub is an important global initiative for achieving this.”

UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak added: “The UK is known for pushing the boundaries of digital finance so it’s great to have the new Innovation Hub opening here. Its work will help central banks to support safe innovation, and boost our efforts to capture the extraordinary potential of technology.”

The BIS Innovation Hub’s work programme has six areas of focus, including use of technological innovation in supervision and regulation, next-generation financial market infrastructures, central bank digital currencies, open finance, cyber security and green finance.

The expansion of the programme includes the opening of centres with the Bank of Canada (Toronto), the European Central Bank/Eurosystem (Frankfurt and Paris) and the four Nordic central banks – Danmarks Nationalbank, the Central Bank of Iceland, the Central Bank of Norway and Sveriges Riksbank – in Stockholm.

In January 2021, the BIS signed a memorandum of understanding for a strategic collaboration with New York’s Federal Reserve System.