The impact and scope of our work is greatly enhanced by cooperation with other institutions that have the same focus, stresses Martin Dinkelborg, Head of the Centre for International Central Bank Dialogue (CIC). This is why we have long valued our close and trusting working relationships with the Joint Vienna Institute (JVI), the Arab Monetary Fund (AMF), the South East Asian Central Banks (SEACEN) Research and Training Centre and the CEMLA Center for Latin American Monetary Studies.

These cooperative ties stretch back a number of years and allow the CIC to swap information with central banks in the most diverse regions of the world in a resource-efficient way. The advantages of a mature and strong network of central banks are not to be underestimated. 

Memoranda of Understanding

The Bundesbank has concluded memoranda of understanding with a number of institutions, giving concrete form to their collaborative relationships. At the end of last year, for instance, the MoU with CEMLA, which has been in place since 2011, was extended. Burkhard Balz, Member of the Executive Board of the Deutsche Bundesbank, and Manuel Ramos-Francia, CEMLA’s Director General, met in Mexico City to sign the renewal. Bundesbank experts have been involved in CEMLA activities in Central and South America since 2005. Established in 1952, the institute gathers together central banks from Latin America and the Caribbean. Among other things, it strives to improve understanding of topics around currency and central banking and to support adequate training of those working at central banks.

Collaboration with the AMF

Bundesbank staff make regular appearances at courses organised in cooperation with the Arab Monetary Fund (AMF). The AMF was founded in 1976 and has 22 member countries from the Arab region. It was established with the intention of contributing to economic, financial and monetary stability and to lay the monetary foundations for economic integration among the Arab states and promote the region’s economic development.

One example of how the Bundesbank works with the AMF is the three-day online course on financial stability which took place at the end of February 2023. A joint venture by the AMF and the Bundesbank, the course welcomed 38 participants from 14 countries including Tunisia, Yemen, Egypt, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. The content for the course was put together by three colleagues from the Bundesbank. Charlotte Kimmel, senior advisor for financial stability at the CIC, took care of the lion’s share of the topics. These included fundamental aspects such as the tasks and objectives of financial stability as well as an overview of macroprudential instruments. Dr Katharina Knoll from the Directorate General Financial Stability tackled the topic of macroprudential surveillance and financial stability risks in Germany. Kristin Rakel from the CIC ran a workshop in which she and the participants explored whether climate risks pose a problem for financial stability. When we work with the AMF, we present in English and our contributions are interpreted simultaneously into Arabic. That works online too, depending on what platform you’re using. It’s an element that makes the courses at the AMF something special, explains Charlotte Kimmel.

JVI courses

I regularly give lectures as part of the courses on offer at the Joint Vienna Institute, Katja Hofmann reports. Ms Hofmann is responsible for coordinating the CIC’s roster of advisors and is herself an advisor for monetary policy. The JVI is a regional training centre for countries in eastern and south-eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia. The Bundesbank has been working in close cooperation with the JVI for many years now, especially in the field of monetary policy implementation and banking supervision. Giving an insight into her experiences, Ms Hofmann looks back to an occasion earlier this year: Most recently, in March, I participated in a course called “Monetary policy implementation”, delivering lectures of my own including one on the topic of greening the financial system. Working with our JVI colleagues is super. The course itself was characterised by lots of interactive exercises and workshops, giving the participants the chance to directly apply what they had learned. I also found the fascinating conversations with the other participants stimulating, and they gave me a deeper understanding of issues in these countries. The cooperation with the JVI is also a boon for the international central banking courses organised by the Bundesbank in Frankfurt. In future, JVI colleagues will be giving presentations on selected topics as part of the CIC’s offering.

Activities with SEACEN

The Bundesbank has also been working with the South East Asian Central Banks (SEACEN) Research and Training Centre for a number of years. Over the past two years, we have contributed primarily in the domain of monetary policy implementation, especially on the subject of market intelligence, says Katja Hofmann, senior advisor for monetary policy at the CIC. With the help of colleagues from the Directorate General Markets – in particular, Jasper Heineking and Tim Hagemann – our lectures have looked at the growing importance of market intelligence for central banks. Colleagues from the unit have presented current analyses on recent developments in global energy and commodity markets, supply chain coverage at the Bundesbank and current trends in FX markets and their monitoring. In 2023, the cooperation is set to be stepped up and extended to other topics such as financial stability. With partner countries opening up post-pandemic, joint in-person events will also become possible once more. And here, too, the cooperation is a two-way street between equal partners, with SEACEN colleagues poised to play an active role in CIC courses.

Text: Katja Hofmann, Silke Schrupp