As central banks around the world upgrade their governance and strategic planning and manage major internal and external reforms, this new compilation of studies by leading experts shows how these challenges can be met. The book combines rigorous analysis with practical case studies to illustrate how many leading central bankers have in practice reformed their institutions.

The principal elements and stages of the modernisation process are analysed in detail. Then each of these is illustrated by means of fascinating case studies:

• The separation of monetary and supervisory functions – case studies from the UK and Kazakhstan.

• The reengineering of the payments system – how the Central Bank of Bosnia and Herzegovina created an RTGS system linked to the EU.

• Taking the long view – how New Zealand’s reserve bank became the forerunner of the modern central bank.

• Financial services reform – the State Bank of Pakistan sets an example.

• The creation of a new central bank – how Timor-Leste created a monetary authority from the chaos of the newly independent state.

• The Governor’s role – Leszek Balcerowicz, deputy premier and minister of finance in the first non-communist government in Poland, now governor of the National Bank of Poland .

These case studies are authored by the senior staff, often the governor, of the institutions involved.

Other sections of the book examine the main drivers for change:

• demands for transparency and accountability;

• increasing calls for information on economic performance;

• Renewed scrutiny of the appropriate scale and scope of the central bank;

• a new focus on central bank efficiency.

 

A further section analyses how central banks can develop, maintain and improve their most important functions. These studies allow peer institutions to benchmark their own practices, and draw on tried and tested solutions.

• How the Fed manages its IT;

• How the central banks of South Africa and Canada use strategic management planning to enhance their corporate governance and policy delivery;

• A groundbreaking chapter by Marko Skreb, former governor of Croatia’s central bank, explaining how (and why) central banks should develop their research functions;

• How central banks like the Cleveland Fed, Sweden’s Riksbank and the Central Bank of Sri Lanka have achieved efficiency gains through strategic reviews of key functions.

Contents

1. Introduction / Peter Nicholl, Central Bank of Bosnia and Herzegovina

I THE CHALLENGE OF REFORM

2. The challenge of reform /Leszek Balcerowicz, National Bank of Poland

3. Why change? /John Mendzela, Mendhurst Associates

4. Enhancing transparency in central bank reporting /Kenneth Sullivan, International Monetary Fund

II RETHINKING THE SCOPE OF THE CENTRAL BANK

5. Central bank operational efficiency: meaning and measurement /Vern McKinley, BearingPoint and King Banaian, St Cloud State University

6. Restructuring financial supervision: the UK experience /Michael Foot CBE, Central Bank of the Bahamas

7. Unification of financial sector regulators: the case of Kazakhstan /Bryan D. Stirewalt, BearingPoint

8. Alternative models for outsourcing banknote services /Adrian Baxter, Alan Gerard, Bill Melbourn and Barry Noble

III IMPROVING PROCESSES

9. Managing central bank IT /Bruce J. Summers, Federal Reserve Information Technology

10. Do all central banks need a well-developed brain? /Marko Skreb, Independent Evaluation Office, International Monetary Fund

11. Strategic management in central banks: the South African experience / Francois J. van Zyl, South African Reserve Bank

12. Strategic planning: a key to effective corporate governance / Mark L. Jewett and Colleen Leighton, Bank of Canada

IV CENTRAL BANK REFORM IN ACTION

13. Twenty years of modernisation: the Reserve Bank of New Zealand /John Singleton, Arthur Grimes, Gary Hawke and Frank Holmes

14. Payments system reform: a case study of Bosnia and Herzegovina /Peter Nicholl, Central Bank of Bosnia and Herzegovina

15. Timor-Leste: starting from scratch /Luis Quintaneiro, Bank of Portugal

16. The role of the State Bank of Pakistan in reforming the financial sector /Ishrat Husain, State Bank of Pakistan