The Bank of Thailand was unveiled as the central bank of the year today (March 3), as Central Banking published the first of four tranches of its annual awards.

Now in their 12th year, the Central Banking Awards recognise outstanding achievements in the central banking community, from the institutions themselves and their commercial partners. The Central Banking team has spent several months reviewing pitches, conducting interviews and contacting referees to narrow down a fiercely competitive field.

As well as the central bank of the year, the first group of winners recognises Bank Indonesia for its reserves management, the Bank of Italy for risk management, and Finland’s financial regulators for their cloud-based analytics framework. Franklin Templeton, HSBC and the World Bank Treasury receive awards for services to central bank clients.

Central Banking will publish three more tranches of awards in the coming days, on March 13, 18 and 20.

Central bank of the year: The Bank of Thailand has had to navigate heightened global uncertainty like other central banks, but has also faced structural challenges in the domestic economy and significant political pressure.

The central bank has deftly demonstrated its commitment to monetary and price stability, defending its autonomy while spearheading a multifaceted financial sector reform programme.

Governor Sethaput Suthiwartnarueput says the award is testament to the bank’s “steadfast commitment” to monetary and financial stability, “through a robust policy framework, as well as providing the groundwork for a more resilient and future-ready financial landscape”.

He adds: “Our dedicated staff can be proud of this achievement.”

Reserve manager: A new foreign exchange reserve framework has enabled staff at Bank Indonesia (BI) to adapt faster to changing market dynamics, while supporting monetary operations. This meant BI was much more agile in adapting to the US Federal Reserve’s rate changes. The framework has also supported regular updates to BI’s strategic asset allocation.

“The transformation of the foreign exchange reserve management framework aims to safeguard foreign reserve preservation, adequacy and liquidity amid global economic divergence, uncertainty and heightened geopolitical tensions,” says governor Perry Warjiyo.

Warjiyo says the framework also plays a “crucial role” in supporting monetary policy, underpinning the bank’s efforts to ensure the stability of both prices and the level of the rupiah, while supporting growth, macro-prudential stability and payments modernisation.

Risk manager: The Bank of Italy has transitioned from a reliance on conventional credit ratings to also incorporate empirical estimates based on market pricing. The approach enables it to capture information that is not reflected in rating agencies’ assessments, and better tailor risk assessments to the unique needs of a central bank.

Risk management at the institution has further benefitted from a focus on sustainability criteria and new corporate mapping tools based on a knowledge graph approach to artificial intelligence.

“I am very proud of this prestigious recognition from Central Banking,” says governor Fabio Panetta. “The risk manager of the year award honours our unwavering commitment to prudent, forward-looking risk management. It also highlights our key role in supporting the financial system when, in times of crisis, other market participants engage in widespread de-risking.”

Financial stability initiative: The Bank of Finland and regulator Fin-FSA have dramatically increased the availability of data through a new credit register backed up by a cloud-based analytics platform.

The new register provides much greater detail on people’s credit history, including both positive and negative data at every point through a loan’s lifecycle. The register gives a clear picture of the financial obligations of all Finnish people, offering regulators a highly up-to-date picture, which is likely to be particularly valuable in times of financial stress.

Olli Rehn, governor of the Bank of Finland, says collaboration with Fin-FSA has been “seamless”, resulting in a “state-of-the-art cloud-based platform”. “The award not only acknowledges our past achievements but also serves as an incentive guiding our future endeavours,” he says.

Asset manager: Franklin Templeton has helped central banks navigate the current uncertain environment by providing a long-term focus, high-quality training and tailored investment strategies.

The firm gained new mandates from central bank clients in 2024. It supports banks with a range of fixed income and equity options, and provides specialist advice on assets such as mortgage-backed securities.

“Serving official institutions for more than 30 years, Franklin Templeton is committed to being a trusted adviser to central banks in challenging market conditions,” says the firm’s chief executive, Jenny Johnson.

Digital currency initiative: Central banks around the world are scaling up their trials of tokenisation and distributed ledger technology (DLT). HSBC has proven itself a trusted partner in some of the largest trials, working in the past year with the Hong Kong Monetary Authority and the European Central Bank.

HSBC’s Orion DLT platform has played a role in both cases, serving as a platform to facilitate the transfer of digital assets. The bank has since used Orion to issue its own digital bonds.

“Central banks are vital in developing digital asset markets, so it’s a real pleasure to receive this prestigious award that recognises the amount of groundbreaking work the HSBC team has achieved with HSBC Orion,” says John O’Neill, the bank’s group head of digital assets and currencies.

Asset services initiative: The World Bank Treasury deployed an innovative AI-based method to solve problems with the accuracy of bond market data. With $200 billion of assets under management, and most of them fixed income, even small inaccuracies were creating major problems.

The World Bank solved the problem by sourcing bond terms directly from issuers. The sheer volume of data made it necessary to develop an AI-driven automated system to handle the information.

“This AI solution reduces operational risk and enhances investment returns for our internal and client portfolios,” says Jorge Familiar, vice-president and treasurer at the World Bank. “Equally importantly, the solution could also benefit asset management operations for our peer and client institutions.”

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