BIS Innovation Hub confirms six new projects in its 2024 programme
23 January 2024 Switzerland
Image: AdobeStock/elenabsl
The Bank for International Settlements has confirmed six new development projects for its BIS Innovation Hub, focusing on central bank digital currencies, green finance, cybersecurity and steps to eliminate financial crime.
This first batch of projects for 2024 builds on a further eight projects that are currently ongoing within the BIS Innovation Hub and 12 that were completed during 2023.
Two projects from the Hong Kong Innovation Centre feature in this new list of research programmes. Project Symbiosis will apply artificial intelligence and big data technology to supply chain adaptation and disclosure. This will use AI to map emissions disclosure from small and mid-sized companies, thereby seeking to improve tracking of Scope 3 emissions.
The second Hong Kong-led project, titled Project Aurum, steps into a new phase where it will model payments privacy for retail CBDC transactions, thereby seeking to extend central bank understanding of privacy factors when designing CBDC architecture.
A project led by the Singapore Innovation Centre, named Project NGFS Data Directory 2.0, will upgrade the data directory platform for Greening the Financial System, making this data directory more effective as a public resource and improving the process for searching through data sources.
Project Promissa, which is a joint initiative conducted with the Swiss National Bank, the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund, will provide a feasibility study for tokenising promissory notes.
The London Innovation Centre’s Project Hertha will test the application of network analytics for identifying financial crime in payments systems, applying analytical models to map and counter criminal patterns in real-time payments.
Project Leap, led by the Eurosystem Innovation Centre, will move into its second phase, looking to protect payments systems against potential threats from quantum computing.
These six new projects add to the ongoing initiatives across the BIS Innovation Hub, which include Project FuSSE, Gaia, Mandala, mBridge Phase III, Nexus Phase III, Pyxtrial, Rio and Viridis.
Commenting on these developments, Cecilia Skingsley, head of the BIS Innovation Hub, says: “In just over four years, the Innovation Hub has carried out almost 30 projects in various areas and has gone from a handful of people to a 90-strong staff. However, technology will not slow down for anyone, and digitalisation affects everyone. It is our job to make sure technology serves economically meaningful activities.”
“As the financial industry adopts new technologies, we need to understand how they affect central banks’ core work,” says Skingsley. “Central banks are actively examining the potential for novel technologies to help deliver on their mandates.”
“Tokenisation is an important area where we have already launched one project and are planning more initiatives. Safety is another crucial area. We need to find ways to improve the efficiency of services like payments, without ever compromising on security, following the principle set by the G20 countries.”
This first batch of projects for 2024 builds on a further eight projects that are currently ongoing within the BIS Innovation Hub and 12 that were completed during 2023.
Two projects from the Hong Kong Innovation Centre feature in this new list of research programmes. Project Symbiosis will apply artificial intelligence and big data technology to supply chain adaptation and disclosure. This will use AI to map emissions disclosure from small and mid-sized companies, thereby seeking to improve tracking of Scope 3 emissions.
The second Hong Kong-led project, titled Project Aurum, steps into a new phase where it will model payments privacy for retail CBDC transactions, thereby seeking to extend central bank understanding of privacy factors when designing CBDC architecture.
A project led by the Singapore Innovation Centre, named Project NGFS Data Directory 2.0, will upgrade the data directory platform for Greening the Financial System, making this data directory more effective as a public resource and improving the process for searching through data sources.
Project Promissa, which is a joint initiative conducted with the Swiss National Bank, the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund, will provide a feasibility study for tokenising promissory notes.
The London Innovation Centre’s Project Hertha will test the application of network analytics for identifying financial crime in payments systems, applying analytical models to map and counter criminal patterns in real-time payments.
Project Leap, led by the Eurosystem Innovation Centre, will move into its second phase, looking to protect payments systems against potential threats from quantum computing.
These six new projects add to the ongoing initiatives across the BIS Innovation Hub, which include Project FuSSE, Gaia, Mandala, mBridge Phase III, Nexus Phase III, Pyxtrial, Rio and Viridis.
Commenting on these developments, Cecilia Skingsley, head of the BIS Innovation Hub, says: “In just over four years, the Innovation Hub has carried out almost 30 projects in various areas and has gone from a handful of people to a 90-strong staff. However, technology will not slow down for anyone, and digitalisation affects everyone. It is our job to make sure technology serves economically meaningful activities.”
“As the financial industry adopts new technologies, we need to understand how they affect central banks’ core work,” says Skingsley. “Central banks are actively examining the potential for novel technologies to help deliver on their mandates.”
“Tokenisation is an important area where we have already launched one project and are planning more initiatives. Safety is another crucial area. We need to find ways to improve the efficiency of services like payments, without ever compromising on security, following the principle set by the G20 countries.”
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