2024 IFC Annual Report

January 2025
The views expressed in this Annual Report do not necessarily reflect the views of
individual IFC member institutions or the Bank for International Settlements.

This publication is available on the BIS website (www.bis.org).

© Bank for International Settlements 2025. All rights reserved. Brief excerpts may be
reproduced or translated provided the source is stated.

ISSN 1991-7511 (online)

ISBN 978-92-9259-816-7 (online)
Contents

Executive summary ................................................................................................................................. 1

The Committee’s governance and organisation ......................................................................... 3

Governance ....................................................................................................................................... 3
IFC as a statistical knowledge centre...................................................................................... 3

IFC involvement in global statistical initiatives ............................................................................ 5

The G20 Data Gaps Initiative ..................................................................................................... 5
SDMX .................................................................................................................................................. 5
Other international initiatives .................................................................................................... 6

Main ongoing workstreams ................................................................................................................ 7

The evolving statistical function in central banking ......................................................... 7
Communication of statistics....................................................................................................... 8
Micro data ......................................................................................................................................... 9
Data science ...................................................................................................................................11
Sustainable finance ......................................................................................................................12
External statistics ..........................................................................................................................13

Annex 1: Members of the IFC Executive as of January 2025 ................................................ 15

Annex 2: Readership of IFC publications......................................................................................16

Annex 3: IFC survey on the use of AI/ML by central banks ..................................................17

Annex 4: IFC publications in 2024 ...................................................................................................18

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2024 Annual Report of the Irving Fisher Committee
on Central Bank Statistics

On 14 January 2025 the BIS All Governors’ meeting approved the publication of the
2024 Annual Report of the Irving Fisher Committee on Central Bank Statistics (IFC). It
provides a brief update on the IFC’s governance and a review of its main workstreams,
including planned initiatives.

Executive summary

As a global network that discusses and develops statistical issues of interest to

central banks, the IFC had 107 members at the end of 2024 and is an affiliated
member of the International Statistical Institute (ISI). It is chaired by Alberto
Naudon of the Central Bank of Chile.
Over time, the Committee has been playing a larger role as a centre to promote
knowledge-sharing and collaboration on statistical methodologies, initiatives and
training. This reflects the important contribution of central banks to the production
of official statistics.
Ensuring wider cooperation with the global statistical community also remains
high on the IFC agenda. The international cooperation framework under the G20
Data Gaps Initiative (DGI) serves as a prime example, especially its third phase,
which calls for better data to understand climate change, income and wealth, financial
innovation and inclusion, and access to private and administrative data and
data-sharing. In addition, the Committee is strongly involved in the activities of the
ISI, in particular the preparation of its 65th biennial World Statistics Congress (WSC)
in the Netherlands, several sessions of which will be sponsored by the IFC on behalf
of the central bank community. Furthermore, Committee members and the BIS have
continued to follow the ongoing revision of the international statistical manuals,
eg the System of National Accounts (SNA) and Balance of Payments (BoP). They have
also contributed to various initiatives to strengthen the global statistical
infrastructure, including the Global Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) system, international
classifications for activities and products and the Statistical Data and Metadata
eXchange (SDMX) standard.
The main areas covered by the IFC in 2024, thanks to the support of its member
central banks, the ISI and a number of international organisations, have centred on:
• Central bank statistics: The IFC’s flagship Biennial Conference, held in Basel in
August 2024, proved a key opportunity to review the evolving statistical function
in central banking. It showed that central banks have a strategic interest in
fostering the production and dissemination of high-quality, reliable and timely
statistics as a public good, not least in view of the accuracy and ethical concerns
raised by the rapid emergence of new data techniques and sources. Trustworthy
data also serve a crucial role in modern, evidence-based policymaking, not least
in the core central banking areas of monetary and financial stability.

1
• Communication of statistics: The IFC has furthered its work on statistical
communication, which is a key element in maximising the value of the data
produced by central banks as well as in fostering data literacy among the public.
It is also an important ingredient supporting the effectiveness of public policies.
• Micro data: The IFC published a report that emphasised that central banks, as
both producers and users of statistical information, are increasingly interested in
making the most of the wealth of granular data available, which typically
comprise micro-level records as well as disaggregated data, without jeopardising
confidentiality. These data can offer a better understanding of economic
phenomena, with sufficient flexibility and adaptability to tackle a wide scope of
issues. They provide information that may be timelier and more resilient to
disruption, support the production of novel economic indicators, better deal with
heterogeneity and have proved to usefully complement traditional
macroeconomic statistics.
• Data science: Along with the Bank of Italy, the IFC has been organising recurrent
data science workshops to review developments in the big data ecosystem and
the ongoing adoption of data analytics. In addition, the Committee has
conducted a membership survey on the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and
machine learning (ML), which is becoming a key priority for central banks
especially in the areas of cyber security, research/analysis and statistical
production. A related and important topic is the need to establish comprehensive
data governance frameworks and strategies for how statistical information is
gathered, stored, processed and disseminated.
• Sustainable finance: The IFC has launched several initiatives on sustainable
finance data issues. Together with the Central Bank of the Republic of Türkiye,
the Deutsche Bundesbank and the Bank of France, in 2024 it organised a
workshop to review central banks’ contributions to addressing the issues posed
by climate change. The Committee also supported an event on the carbon
content of economic activities and published a report recommending its better
measurement in order to enable rational, environmentally oriented decision-
making and proposing a related plan for follow-up work. Lastly, it will organise a
Satellite Seminar dedicated to sustainability data issues with De Nederlandsche
Bank in conjunction with the 65th ISI WSC and is supporting international efforts
to develop and collect more comparable indicators for green finance.
• External statistics: The Committee has been organising with the European
Central Bank (ECB) a series of events on external sector data, a key area of interest
for central banks. The last edition, hosted by the Bank of Spain in 2024,
underscored how external statistics have become paramount to address new
developments in international economic relations, particularly amidst growing
risks of geopolitical fragmentation and heightened uncertainty. It also showed
that external statistics need to be “fit for multiple needs” to stay relevant.
Looking ahead, the IFC will continue to promote knowledge-sharing and
international cooperation on statistical methodologies, initiatives and training in
2025. The Committee will also further its work in the various areas outlined above,
and several events will be organised in this context with the support of the central
banks of Brazil, Italy and the Netherlands.

2
The Committee’s governance and organisation

Governance

The IFC is a global network of statisticians, economists and policymakers who discuss
statistical issues of interest to central banks and develop related methodological
work. Its activities are overseen by the BIS All Governors’ Meeting. Alberto Naudon,
Board Member of the Central Bank of Chile, was nominated as new IFC Chair in
February 2024, following the departure of his predecessor Pablo García. 1 The Chair is
supported by two Vice-Chairs, Robert Kirchner (Deputy Director General of the
Directorate General Data and Statistics at the Deutsche Bundesbank) and Gloria Peña
(Statistics and Data Division Director at the Central Bank of Chile).
The Committee’s institutional members comprise central banks and international
and regional organisations formally involved in central banking issues. The central
banks of Botswana, Jamaica, Mongolia and Tanzania joined the IFC as new members
in 2024. The Committee had 107 members at the end of 2024, including all BIS
shareholder central banks.
The IFC is an affiliated member of the ISI, under a memorandum of
understanding with the BIS, and also participates in the activities of the International
Association for Official Statistics (IAOS). In addition, a significant number of IFC central
banks (about one third) have become ISI corporate members in recent years. The IFC
has continued its involvement in ISI undertakings in 2024, especially the preparation
of its next biennial WSC in 2025 (see below).
The Committee held its annual meeting on 21 August 2024 to discuss its
activities, examine future work and review the composition of its executive body (see
Annex 1 for the composition of the IFC Executive as of 1 January 2025).

IFC as a statistical knowledge centre

The IFC is playing an important and increasing role as a centre for knowledge-sharing
and international cooperation on data-related issues. The aim is to showcase the
experience of central banks in dealing with statistics and facilitate access to
methodological material, relevant initiatives and training opportunities.
A first focus point relates to IFC publications. The public readership of IFC
Bulletins has increased significantly over the past decade (Annex 2, Graph 1.A), and
the number of citations has steadily expanded (Annex 2, Graph 1.B). In addition, the
IFC has launched new series in the recent past, notably the IFC Reports starting in
2015 and the IFC Guidance Notes starting in 2022.
Second, the Committee has developed its dissemination work by leveraging the
experience of its members. To this end, short methodological notes on various topics
are available on the IFC knowledge centre webpage (see the last one on the
development and maintenance of a security by security database). More informally,

1
As per usual practice, Mr Naudon’s chairmanship will last until the end of his predecessor’s original
term at the Central Bank of Chile (12/09/2025).

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and at the request of any of its members, the Committee also provides a secured
platform for sharing among fellow central banks restricted information on the
practical handling of specific issues. Furthermore, the IFC collaborates actively with
other central bank groups working on data issues, not least to investigate potential
synergies and avoid duplication.
Third, the IFC hosts the central bank network on historical monetary and
financial statistics (HMFS). This network brings together statisticians and academic
experts to learn from each other and provides a forum for discussing approaches to
compiling historical monetary and financial data relevant to policymakers. The HMFS
webpage contains detailed information on the network’s composition, relevant
data sets and country contributions, and general documentation. With the support of
the BIS statistical function, significant progress has been already made on the
dissemination of long-term statistics related to credit, interest rates and house prices.
This work was expanded in 2024 to cover historical series on central bank balance
sheets, while the focus in 2025 will be on BoP data.
Fourth, the Committee is actively supporting training facilities for central bank
statisticians. A key initiative relates to financial accounts, an essential element of the
SNA, which central banks in many countries are responsible for compiling. In view of
the strong demand from central bank staff for learning opportunities in this area, the
Committee has been engaged in the development by the OECD/Sapienza University
in Rome of an online course on macroeconomic financial accounts with Coursera, the
US-based massive open online course provider. 2 In addition to the first part of the
course (a general introduction to financial accounts and balance sheets within the
SNA), a second part covering financial markets and institutional sectors was launched
in September 2024. The third and final part is currently being developed and will
complete the specialisation in macroeconomic financial accounts and its application
for economic analysis as a Coursera mini-master.
Moreover, the IFC continues to sponsor, together with a number of central banks,
the postgraduate programme in Statistical Systems with a specialisation in
Central Banks’ Statistics, developed by the NOVA Information Management School
(NOVA IMS) of Universidade Nova de Lisboa in collaboration with Banco de Portugal.
Lastly, the IFC is serving as a platform for its members to access relevant material
developed in the context of the European Master in Official Statistics (EMOS)
network arranged by the European Statistical System Committee.

2
This project draws on the OECD’s Understanding financial accounts manual, to which several IFC
members have contributed. The BIS/IFC, the ECB and the Bank of Italy are acting both as funding
sponsors of the project and as members of its scientific committee.

4
IFC involvement in global statistical initiatives

The G20 Data Gaps Initiative

An important aspect of the Committee’s work is exploring information gaps and ways
to strengthen data collection in the context of the G20 DGI, 3 the cooperation
framework set up in response to the Great Financial Crisis (GFC) of 2007–09. The main
goal has been to enhance data availability, especially as regards timeliness, frequency
and international comparability, and to participate in the general improvement of the
global statistical infrastructure. Three main factors have been instrumental here:
(i) the structured collaboration set up between international organisations and
national statistical systems; (ii) the close connection with current official objectives,
with annual reporting to policymakers and prioritisation of the related statistical
implications in view of national capacities; and (iii) the peer pressure mechanism for
spurring the involvement of G20 national authorities as well as other interested
jurisdictions.
Following the completion of the first two phases of the DGI, IAG members, with
the support of the Financial Stability Board (FSB) and major economies, are now
implementing the third phase of the DGI (DGI-3), launched in 2022 and spanning a
five-year horizon. Its workplan aims to address the critical data gaps that exist in the
face of the climate crisis, increasing economic polarisation and large-scale digital
transformation. It comprises 14 recommendations clustered around four statistical
areas, namely (i) climate change; (ii) household distributional information; (iii) fintech
and financial inclusion; and (iv) access to private and administrative data and
data-sharing. Moreover, an annual reporting framework has been established to help
assess advancements of the various DGI phases, as documented on the IMF-
maintained webpage.

SDMX

A key international initiative for central bank statistics is the SDMX ISO standard,
which facilitates the seamless exchange, production and dissemination of statistical
data and metadata. The standard provides an integrated approach enabling
interoperable implementations within and between IT systems. It is sponsored by the
members of the IAG and, since 2023, the International Labour Organization (ILO). It is
widely used by international organisations, national statistical offices (NSOs) and
other data-producing agencies to streamline the transmission of data and strengthen
their production and dissemination. The BIS is actively supporting the implementation
of the SDMX standard, especially by providing (i) the SDMX Fusion Metadata
Registry (FMR), which is a free and open source software under the umbrella of the
BIS Open Tech initiative that enables the management of statistical metadata; and (ii)
the sdmx.io platform, which is an ecosystem providing a suite of free open source

3
In liaison with the BIS’s involvement in the Inter-Agency Group on Economic and Financial Statistics
(IAG), which comprises the BIS, the ECB, Eurostat, the IMF (chair), the OECD, the UN and the World
Bank.

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resources, learning materials and practical guides designed to support various
aspects of official statistics. 4
In this context, two main IFC initiatives took place last year. First, in October 2024
the Committee supported the organisation of the 12th SDMX Experts Workshop,
which is a biannual event targeted at experienced practitioners to promote good
practices, share knowledge, build capacity and advance the function and application
of SDMX. Key topics discussed included the impact and opportunities of AI,
interoperability with other standards (especially in the context of the DGI-3 work on
the sharing/access of micro data) and the evolution of SDMX from its original focus
on data exchange to one encompassing data dissemination and data/metadata
management. One notable lesson relates to the significant benefits and emerging use
cases of SDMX observed beyond the official statistics perimeter, as well as its
potential to implement sophisticated data governance and strategies to enhance data
quality, discoverability and overall management.
Second, the IFC has conducted a membership survey to assess the current
state of SDMX implementation, measure its adoption rate and gain insights into
the usage and requirements of the related tools. The results showed a notable and
significant increase in SDMX adoption across the main statistical domains, despite the
lack of sufficient staff and IT resources. Central banks benefit from an already vivid
ecosystem of open source tools in use that can support all of the stages of the data
lifecycle. Moreover, the SDMX’s rich information model, designed specifically for
metadata-driven processing, makes it possible to systematise statistical processes,
resulting in better governance, agility and efficiency. Lastly, the SDMX standard is
increasingly serving as a catalyst to harness AI capabilities, enabling more automated
data processing, improved data quality and streamlined data discovery.

Other international initiatives

The central banking community has been actively involved in the revision of the
international statistical manuals (for the SNA and the BoP), to be finalised in 2025;
related progress is documented in “Towards the 2025 SNA” and “Update of the sixth
edition of the Balance of Payments and International Investment Position Manual
(BPM6)”. The Committee has also supported the UN-organised global consultation
on the proposed revised structure of the International Standard Industrial
Classification of All Economic Activities (ISIC) with a specific focus on fintech,
ie technological innovation in financial services, by leveraging IFC members’
experience, including in the context of the DGI-3 work on the measurement of fintech
credit, digital money and the improvement of financial inclusion and access through
digital instruments and services.
Cooperation with the international statistical community remains also high on
the IFC agenda. A major opportunity to promote statistical knowledge-sharing
among central banks and beyond will be the ISI’s 65th biennial WSC, to be organised
in The Hague, Netherlands in 2025. The IFC will sponsor several sessions covering in

4
This is conducted in close collaboration with the Statistical Information System Collaboration
Community, which is a reference open source community for official statistics.

6
particular statistical communication, carbon statistics, seasonal adjustment, data
science/innovation and financial digitalisation. The event will provide an opportunity
to further deepen the dialogue between central bank statisticians, their counterparts
in NSOs and international organisations, and academia.
Moreover, the Committee greatly values the general statistical cooperation
mechanisms established among the international organisations regrouped within the
inter-agency Committee for the Coordination of Statistical Activities (CCSA). It is also
supporting a number of regional statistical initiatives, including the Financial
Information Forum (FIF) established by the Center for Latin American Monetary
Studies (CEMLA) to identify and discuss issues related to the improvement of financial
information models at central banks, as well as the Steering Committee of the Arab
Statistics Initiative (Arabstat). The Committee also cooperates with the Centre for
International Research on Economic Tendency Surveys (CIRET), which promotes the
exchange of knowledge on the theoretical and operational aspects of economic cycle
research.
Lastly, the Committee is also encouraging work to enhance the global statistical
infrastructure, especially by strengthening business registration in countries,
improving the availability of (national and global) unique identifiers and facilitating
access to administrative data. One notable initiative relates to the Global LEI system.
The IFC participates as an observer in the LEI Regulatory Oversight Committee (ROC),
which involves financial markets regulators and other public authorities to coordinate
and oversee the LEI and its wider adoption. Important work is ongoing to enhance its
quality, facilitate its annual renewal process and broaden its coverage to improve data
collection and risk monitoring, as well as to lower regulatory reporting costs, with a
specific initiative comparing the LEI with other types of identifier, including those used
for compiling BIS international financial statistics.

Main ongoing workstreams

In the last year, the IFC has been furthering its work in several key areas, leveraging
the support of its member central banks, the ISI and various international
organisations. Its activities have been centred primarily on the evolution of official
statistics, statistical communication, micro data, data science, sustainable finance and
external statistics. The related publications are listed in Annex 4.

The evolving statistical function in central banking

Central banks around the world are experiencing a significant evolution in their
statistical function, especially as regards its dual objective of producing reference
information and supporting policymaking. There are both important opportunities
and challenges related to the advent of new data sources and tools as well as ongoing
international statistical initiatives (such as the SNA/BoP update and the DGI). The
IFC’s Biennial Conference, held at the BIS in August 2024 and themed “Statistics
and beyond: new data for decision-making in central banks”, provided a key
opportunity to discuss these issues. It showed that central banks have a strategic
interest in fostering the production of high-quality, reliable and timely statistics as a

7
public good. This is particularly important for the responsible development of AI
approaches amidst growing risks of disinformation and heightened ethical concerns.
Data are also playing a crucial role in modern, evidence-based policymaking,
especially in the core central banking areas of monetary and financial stability. They
are essential not only for formulating policies but also for communicating them and
tracking their effects, and the transparency and credibility they provide are central to
maintaining public trust. There are, however, a number of important caveats for
central bank statisticians. One is the increasing difficulty of tracking shifting patterns
in the economy in a timely manner with the constant emergence of new financial
products, institutions and markets; such a dynamic landscape requires continuous
monitoring and real-time analysis. Another is the ability to address new and various
policy questions such as those posed by climate change, with the need to acquire and
link data from multiple, scattered sources that often lack common standards and
structure.
Fortunately, central banks are becoming better equipped to leverage novel
and complex information sources and tools, especially in dealing with
non-structured data (eg textual information) as well as large administrative registers.
This can be instrumental to strengthening their supervisory capacities, as highlighted
by the IFC Working Paper on “Machine learning for anomaly detection in money
services business outlets using data by geolocation”. This paper, which won the IFC
Young Statistician Award on the occasion of the 2024 IFC Conference, shows how ML
techniques can help detect anomalies in the Malaysian financial services industry by
combining transaction information with geospatial data. Addressing new information
needs can also be facilitated by greater sharing of both data and experience among
public and private institutions, not least to better integrate cross-domain sources. Yet
it also calls for implementing strong governance strategies, frameworks and practices
in order to ensure the quality, integrity, security and effective use of data. One
particular focus point is to document the data used with adequate metadata (the
“data about the data”) as a way of fostering not only users’ interpretation but also
machine readability as a key feature supporting innovative AI-based applications.
Another priority is to be able to mitigate the new risks associated with AI-based
techniques, especially as regards privacy, fairness and accuracy. A third point is to
clarify data responsibilities both within (with well defined oversight roles by data
stewards) and across (with formal partnerships and memoranda of understanding)
organisations. Lastly, central banks have a keen interest in promoting data literacy
among users and ensuring that statistical information is well understood by the public
and in decision-making processes.

Communication of statistics

Many central banks have recently taken important steps to strengthen the
communication of their statistics, aiming at increasing their outreach to a
broader audience and enhancing their value to better support information
users. IFC Bulletin no 60, dedicated to communication on central bank statistics,
underlined three main points from this perspective. First, statistical communication is
a key element in maximising the value of the data produced by central banks. Second,
it is also an important ingredient supporting the effectiveness of their policies, with
due consideration for the fact that data collected for specific purposes should be duly
protected. Third, communication effectiveness depends crucially on the degree of

8
statistical literacy among the public, and central banks can play an important role in
addressing this point. However, despite ongoing efforts, the communication of
statistics remains a constant challenge, reflecting in particular the difficulties posed
by new information sources, the increasing need for granular insights and
competition from alternative, sometimes poor-quality data. Fortunately, central banks
appear to be well positioned, building on well established credibility, visibility and
trusted independence. They are also making substantial progress, especially in
identifying and selecting specific audience targets, crafting tailored content, using
various (traditional and new) dissemination channels and leveraging technical
innovation.
Looking ahead, a key objective should be to foster user engagement with –
and understanding of – central bank statistics. A first action point is to set up a
dedicated statistical communication function to address both internal and external
users. Success will often depend on defining clear priorities and objectives and on
ensuring good cooperation with subject matter experts as well as with the main
communications department of the central bank. Second, communication should
reach out to and engage with different groups, consider their distinct needs and be
tailored to their various levels of sophistication and knowledge. A one-size-fits-all
approach has clear limitations, and new channels should be developed to reach out
to the broadest possible audience. Third, innovation can help to enhance statistical
dissemination methods, for instance through the development of single
“open source” data portals and the exploration of new ways to share very granular
information without compromising confidentiality. In addition, AI techniques can
increasingly support a wide range of tasks, from identifying user types to offering
customised solutions that are tailored to specific user needs and degrees of literacy.
In particular, the recent progress observed in the field of natural language processing
(NLP) and large language models (LLMs) is providing promising opportunities to
strengthen central banks’ statistical communication.

Micro data

Central banks, as both producers and users of statistical information, are increasingly
interested in making the most of the wealth of granular data available (which
typically comprise micro-level records as well as disaggregated data) without
jeopardising confidentiality. As analysed in IFC Bulletin no 61, these data can offer
a level of precision and comprehension into economic phenomena that aggregation
may typically mask or hide. Further, they provide sufficient flexibility and adaptability
to tackle a wide scope of issues, allowing for a better understanding of emerging
behaviours and more targeted and effective policy prescriptions. Additionally, since
many micro data sources are a by-product of the increasingly digitalised world, they
contain information that can be timelier and more resilient to disruption, for example
during financial crises. Moreover, granular data can support the production of novel
economic indicators as well as experimentation with alternative ones. Finally, they
have proved a useful complement to traditional macroeconomic statistics, for
instance by helping to assess real-time accuracy, deal with heterogeneity among
economic agents, and address gaps or missing data. However, central banks are also
fully aware of the need to address the important challenges associated with such
data sets, with two important points. First, these data inherently lack the thorough
production processes and quality assessments of typical macroeconomic statistics.

9
Second, to provide value granular insights must be situated within a coherent
macroeconomic framework and contextualised so they can ultimately inform policy
decisions effectively.
Fortunately, central banks’ experience shows that data science and its wide set
of innovative techniques can be very effective at tackling these challenges. First,
while working with granular data can be complex and labour-intensive, there are
increasing opportunities to harness their insights and perform automated tasks,
including anomaly detection, real-time monitoring, pattern recognition and
predictive analytics. Second, new methods are available for working with and sharing
entity-level information without jeopardising privacy or confidentiality. Third, the
ongoing development of universally adopted frameworks and norms (such as the LEI)
has been instrumental to foster the governance and standardisation of granular data,
greatly facilitating their use for analytical purposes. Fourth, policy models and
analyses are increasingly leveraging granular data to develop new insights and allow
for better reconciliation with aggregate macroeconomic statistics. Looking forward,
making the most of the opportunities provided by granular data calls for developing
appropriate mitigation measures to safeguard their security, address their quality
problems and ensure the usefulness of the information provided in a transparent way,
especially when supporting policy decisions.
The IFC also continued to support a number of important international
initiatives in the area of micro data in 2024. The first one takes place in the context
of the G20 DGI-3 recommendation on enhancing micro data-sharing with the aim
of working towards an international micro data standard in coordination with SDMX.
A second initiative relates to a group of central banks, NSOs and international
organisations involved in INEXDA, the International Network for Exchanging
Experience on Statistical Handling of Granular Data. The IFC has actively supported
its work, which comprises the development of a metadata schema to describe
granular data sets, the identification of data access procedures and the review of best
practices. The BIS is providing eBIS as a platform for internal communication in the
network, and a joint session on “Sharing and accessing granular administrative data”
will be co-organised at the 2025 ISI WSC.
A third fruitful cooperation in the micro data domain relates to the European
Committee of Central Balance Sheet Data Offices (ECCBSO). This group aims to
improve the analysis of non-financial corporate enterprises data through the
exchange of information and joint studies. With the IFC and the Bank of Spain, it
organised a workshop in 2024 on “New insights from financial statements”. The event
brought together researchers, data analysts and statisticians to discuss the value and
use of firms’ financial statements, how to support the development of climate-related
data (especially by leveraging firms’ disclosures), the identification of financial risks
and the assessment of the impact of regulations on corporate decisions. Central
banks’ reported experience emphasises the promising opportunities offered by
innovative data sources and techniques to make use of financial statement
information and develop high-quality, granular and accessible firm-level insights. It
also underlines the importance of collaboration among data producers, researchers
and policymakers to enhance the reliability and relevance of this information.

10
Data science

A strategic IFC initiative has been to organise recurrent workshops on “Data science
in central banking” with a broad audience of practitioners and technicians to review
the ongoing adoption of data analytics and business intelligence techniques and
developments in the big data ecosystem. The main objective is to showcase projects
and share experience that can help to develop in-house knowledge and reduce the
reliance on external service providers. The next and fourth workshop will be organised
in 2025 with the Bank of Italy to explore the possibilities of generative AI and its
potential applications in central banking. Areas of particular interest will include cloud
computing and advanced data analytics techniques, the use of open source software,
data infrastructures and data privacy and security issues. Looking further ahead, one
important topic of interest relates to the development, sharing and application of IT
tools in official statistics, as the increasing availability of new information sources
and technologies offers significant opportunities for statistical agencies to modernise
their IT landscape and meet the evolving needs of policymakers and other data users.
In addition, the IFC has conducted a membership survey on the use of AI and
ML. The results confirm that, while the resources allocated to related projects have
remained limited so far, AI is becoming a key priority for central banks (Annex 3,
Graph 2.A). It is expected to have the greatest impact in the areas of cyber security
and research/analysis (Annex 3, Graph 3). As regards the production of official
statistics, the number of use cases actually deployed is still limited (Annex 3,
Graph 2.B), but central banks are increasingly adopting AI for various data processing
phases (eg data editing, synthetic data generation, disclosure controls and quality
checks). However, AI raises a number of challenges, starting with the fact that
necessary governance arrangements are still at infancy. Moreover, important
operational risks relate to skills shortage and lack of institutional agility. Relatedly,
concerns about confidentiality, privacy, cyber security and reputation have led the
vast majority of central banks to restrict the use of AI tools. Looking ahead, the survey
highlights the importance of addressing pressing IT architectural questions, eg in
terms of computation capacity and potential adoption of cloud services. It also
underlines the benefits of collaboration within and across central banks to fully
harness the benefits of AI and overcome associated challenges. This could be
achieved by sharing code, use cases and models, a practice that remains limited to
date despite IFC initiatives to help overcome this problem eg by offering relevant
events and guidance.
Experience moreover suggests that data science projects should be
undertaken within a comprehensive framework governing the way statistical
information is gathered, stored, processed and disseminated. The BIS/IFC has long
been involved in international discussions on data governance issues, for instance on
the occasion of the recent reviews of the ISI Declaration on Professional Ethics and
the UN global review of the implementation of the Fundamental Principles of Official
Statistics. In addition, the IFC represents the central banking community in the task
force set up by the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) to review the role
of NSOs in the new data ecosystem. It also supports the work of the High-Level Group
for the Modernisation of Official Statistics in different key areas, including statistical
standards’ interoperability and the use of generative AI for official statistics. Lastly,
the Committee has worked on strengthening governance in developing economies

11
and in 2024 supported the symposium on “Strengthening data governance in the
African data ecosystem” organised by the African Development Bank.

Sustainable finance

In recent years, the IFC has launched several initiatives on sustainable finance data
issues in close coordination with other international bodies, including the Network
of Central Banks and Supervisors for Greening the Financial System (NGFS), the
supervisory initiatives led by the FSB and standard-setting bodies, and the various
actions undertaken on climate data issues in the G20 DGI context.
To comprehensively review these various initiatives, the IFC organised a
workshop on “Addressing climate change data needs: the global debate and
central banks’ contribution”, hosted by the Central Bank of the Republic of Türkiye
with the support of the Deutsche Bundesbank and the Bank of France in 2024. This
event highlighted the multifaceted impact of climate change, in terms of both
physical (eg increased flooding) and transition risks (eg bank exposures to carbon-
intensive sectors). It also underlined that central banks, as users of climate data in
carrying out their specific policy mandates, have a clear interest in monitoring and
managing the related financial and monetary stability risks. Yet proper impact
evaluation calls for further developing global sustainable finance metrics, with data
that should be publicly available, reliable, comprehensive and comparable. Making
progress requires strong international collaboration, not least to develop harmonised
statistical frameworks and practices; enhance information-sharing (including on data,
frameworks and methodologies); and develop innovative concepts, techniques and
data sources.
Another occasion to take stock of IFC work on sustainability data issues will be
the dedicated IFC Satellite Seminar to be hosted by De Nederlandsche Bank in
conjunction with the 65th ISI WSC. This event will be an opportunity to get an
integrated view of central banks’ experience in collecting and making use of
sustainability data, covering the broad range of environmental, social and governance
(ESG) topics. It will highlight the analytical value of such data, the tools and
approaches needed to unlock this value, and the challenges posed by sustainability
information.
More specifically, one topic of increasing central bank attention relates to the
measurement of the carbon content of economic output, ie the direct and indirect
emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases (GHGs) created during
the production of goods or services. In 2024, the IFC co-organised a workshop
dedicated to this topic with the IMF, Eurostat, the Deutsche Bundesbank, the Central
Bank of Chile and the University of Oxford. A key lesson, as highlighted in IFC Report
no 16, “Empowering carbon accounting: from data to action”, is that the
measurement of carbon content is essential for enabling rational, environmentally
oriented decision-making and would benefit many stakeholders, including
companies, consumers, investors, banks and authorities. Currently there is a lack of
harmonised, global and comprehensive data at the aggregate (by country/economic
sector), company and product levels, although interesting methodological
approaches can be developed, as analysed in IFC Working Paper no 24.

12
 Making progress on measuring the carbon content of economic activities calls
first for a better disclosure of companies’ direct emissions, with data that should be
duly analysed, verified, audited and shared with relevant authorities or the public at
large. The next step is to adequately measure upstream indirect emissions to be able
to track carbon emissions across the entire supply chain. The third step is to ensure
the proper integration of company- and product-level data in the overall statistical
framework for economic activities. These three steps are fundamental preconditions
for developing an adequate and effective global carbon accounting framework
that provides accurate, credible and verifiable data across the global economy.
Fortunately, a number of important initiatives are under way to support this
endeavour. The development of air emissions accounts and input-output modelling
will be useful to track carbon emissions throughout the value chain, as well as their
interactions with the broader economy. Second, global standards are being refined
to enhance the disclosure of carbon information and develop adequate statistical
classifications and taxonomies. Third, the international community has started to
address the most pressing data gaps related to the link between carbon emissions
and economic activities.
The success of these initiatives will require close collaboration and innovation by
all parties involved, including central banks. To foster the sharing of experience and
best practices, the IFC has identified a workplan on carbon accounting,
comprising the following main elements:
• the conduct of a survey to take stock of existing data sources and future
plans;
• the mapping of the macro data sets relevant for emission intensities to make
them readily accessible;
• the review of existing and potential micro data sources on emission
intensities and their interlinkages; and
• the development of solutions for providing international access to disclosed
company-level direct emissions, including product-level information.
A last important point of focus for the IFC has been the provision of
methodological guidance for the development of more comparable indicators for
green finance (ie debt and equity financing) in the context of a dedicated DGI-3
recommendation led by the international Working Group on Securities Databases
(WGSD). 5 This work will be pursued actively in 2025, with the IFC supporting a
dedicated meeting to be co-organised by the WGSD and the Central Bank of Brazil.

External statistics

The Committee has been organising with the ECB a series of events on external
sector data, a key area of interest for central banks. The aim is to foster regular
discussions and experience-sharing to identify the main analytical needs, prioritise
data collection and address upcoming challenges. Following the first edition

5
After the GFC, the WGSD was tasked with improving information on securities markets. Its core
members are the BIS (chair), the ECB and the IMF.

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organised in 2020 with Banco de Portugal, the second conference was hosted by the
Bank of Spain in 2024. As documented in IFC Bulletin no 62, the event underscored
how external statistics have become paramount to address new developments
in international economic relations. They are the lenses through which to observe
the main drivers of the global economy, ranging from globalisation, digitalisation and
climate change to the new trends in international trade and financial flows shaped by
the fault lines of geopolitics. Yet in an uncertain world changing with unprecedented
speed, external statistics need to quickly adapt to evolving user needs (especially
those of policymakers). This calls for regularly revisiting statistical concepts,
experimenting with new indicators and harvesting the vast amounts of data arising
from technological advancements. Considerable work has been undertaken over
recent decades to fill information gaps and, perhaps more significantly, update
methodological frameworks and ensure consistency within and across
macroeconomic accounts. However, much more work lies ahead despite strained
resources both in NSOs and central banks, which often have shared responsibilities
in the compilation process.
A first focal point for external statistics should be to better capture the impacts
of globalisation, digitalisation and climate change. In addition, the statistical
community aims to improve the consistency, comparability and relevance of external
statistics in terms of both methodology and data. More fundamentally, external
statistics need to be “fit for multiple needs” to stay relevant and respond to the
rising demand for multidimensional information. In practice, this means that they
have to serve and swiftly adapt to new demands across the wide range of users. A
related lesson is the need to foster experimental external statistics to face growing,
changing and timelier data needs. It calls for the use of alternative and big data
sources for producing experimental and possibly official external statistics. This may
aid not only in enhancing and complementing conventional sources but also in
overcoming sudden stops in the provision of traditional indicators, such as those
experienced during the Covid-19 crisis in 2020–22. Yet, the trade-off is often to
balance experimental and more timely indicators with reliable, accurate, high-quality
and trustworthy statistics.
In view of these challenges, innovation is not a mere option, it is rather a
necessity, even if risks cannot be ignored when adopting novel technologies. Data
interoperability, usability and reusability also need to be improved as key ingredients
for sound external statistics. Lastly, stronger international statistical cooperation can
be instrumental to foster data stewardship and sharing and to better centralise
statistical collections. These elements call for a clear and comprehensive roadmap
for enhancing external statistics in the years ahead, based on a shared vision to
leverage innovation, promote international cooperation and maintain trust in official
statistics.

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Annex 1: Members of the IFC Executive as of January 2025

Executive member Institution Term

Alberto Naudon (Chair) Central Bank of Chile 2024–25

Robert Kirchner (Vice-Chair) Deutsche Bundesbank 2020–25

Gloria Peña (Vice-Chair) Central Bank of Chile 2019–27

Yakubu Aminu Bello Central Bank of Nigeria 2021–25

Board of Governors of the Federal

Marco Cagetti 2024–27
Reserve System

Michael Machuene Manamela South African Reserve Bank 2024–26

Claudia Mann European Central Bank 2024–27

Ichiro Muto Bank of Japan 2024–27

Fernando Alberto Rocha Central Bank of Brazil 2018–27

Eyal Rozen Bank of Israel 2021–26

Luís Teles Dias Banco de Portugal 2022–27

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Annex 2: Readership of IFC publications

IFC Bulletins ranking and citation metrics Graph 1

A. Ranking among all series by citations1 B. Citation metrics

Position in ranking (reversed scale) h-index ‘000s
a
1,239

1,500 10.5 0.6

2,000 7.0 0.4

2,500 3.5 0.2

3,000 0.0 0.0

12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24

h-index (lhs)2 Number of adjusted citations (rhs)3

All indicators are based on last 10 years works for IFC Bulletins (ie not including IFC Reports and Guidance Notes).
a
Change of methodology. Since (before) October 2013, the ranking has been based on last 10 (all) years publications.
1
Aggregate rankings (summary rankings that aggregate the various criteria). The IDEAS/RePEc rankings database provides various rankings
related to research in Economics, including top institutions, journals, working paper series, and authors. Regarding economic publications
among top series by citations, the IFC Bulletins ranked 1,239th among all series in December 2024, compared to 2,721st in August
2012. 2 h is the number of works with at least h citations. 3 Excludes citations from the same series.

Sources: IDEAS/RePEc; BIS calculations.

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Annex 3: IFC survey on the use of AI/ML by central banks

AI is a priority for central banks

As a percentage of surveyed jurisdictions Graph 2

A. AI/ML importance in strategic planning B. AI/ML use cases1

11.9% 11.7%

25%

45.8%
33.3%
42.4%
30%

In production Development
High Normal Low
Small-scale production No AI/ML in use

1
Percentage of surveyed jurisdictions indicating the state of AI/ML adoption ("In production": multiple use cases deployed in production;
"Small-scale production": limited use cases in production; "Development": few pilot projects; "No AI/ML in use": no projects either in
production or development).
Source: IFC 2024 survey.

AI is expected to have a significant impact on cyber security, statistics and

research1
In per cent Graph 3

Cyber security

Statistics

Research

Financial stability

Payments

Prudential supervision

Monetary policy

20 40 60 80 100
High Moderate Low No impact Not sure

1
Share of the expected impact from AI/ML (from high to not sure) per each functional domain in the next two years.
Source: IFC 2024 survey.

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Annex 4: IFC publications in 2024

January IFC 2023 Annual Report

April IFC Bulletin, no 60, “Communication on central bank statistics”

May IFC Guidance Note, no 5, “Development and maintenance of a security-by-security

database”

July IFC Bulletin, no 61, “Granular data: new horizons and challenges”

August IFC Bulletin, no 62, “External statistics in a fragmented and uncertain world”

October IFC Report, no 16, “Empowering carbon accounting: from data to action”

November IFC Working Paper, no 23, “Machine learning for anomaly detection in money services
business outlets using data by geolocation”

December IFC Working Paper, no 24, “Harnessing the power of Input-Output analysis for
sustainability”

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