The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) and the Bank of England have jointly launched the BIS Innovation Hub in London.

The centre is the fourth hub to be opened in the past two years.

The launch is part of a wider plan to expand the global reach of the BIS Innovation Hub. The expansion includes the opening of hubs 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 the Federal Reserve System in New York.

UK chancellor Rishi Sunak commented on the opening: “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.”

BIS general manager Agustín Carstens, said that the bank is taking a leading role in coordinating the work of central banks on technological innovation in the financial sector.

“This new Centre in London reflects the Bank of England’s critical role as an innovator in responding to the challenges and opportunities of the digital world while safeguarding financial stability,” said BIS General Manager Agustín Carstens.

The BIS Innovation Hub’s work programme is currently focused on six areas: use of technological innovation in supervision and regulation (suptech and regtech); next-generation financial market infrastructures; central bank digital currencies; open finance; cyber security; and green finance.

“As a central bank, we recognise the importance of innovation for the global financial system and look to support its safe deployment wherever possible,” said Andrew Bailey, governor of the Bank of England. “This requires collaboration between public authorities in all jurisdictions, and the BIS Innovation Hub is an important global initiative for achieving this.”

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