The Bank for International Settlements: Foundation, Status and Governance — conclusion

Conclusion

The Bank for International Settlements has travelled a long way from the reparations bank of 1930. It survived the collapse of its founding purpose, the war and the attempt at Bretton Woods to abolish it, and found new functions as agent of the European Payments Union, as organiser of the Basel arrangements of the 1960s, as host of the committees that prepared European monetary union and as the institutional home of the international standard setters. Its legal form, a company limited by shares that is at the same time an international organisation, has proved flexible enough to accommodate these changes. The Headquarters Agreement of 1987 secured its immunities in Switzerland, while the Hague arbitration of 2002 and 2003 confirmed its character as an international organisation governed by international law.

Today the BIS is at once a bank for central banks, a centre of economic research and statistics and the meeting place of the world's central bankers. Its governance, from the General Meeting and the Board to the General Manager, reflects the gradual widening of a European club into a global institution with 63 members and offices in Hong Kong and Mexico City. The criticism of its accountability has not diminished its importance, which rests above all on the standards drafted by the committees in its Tower. The most influential of these committees, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, and the three generations of the Basel Accords that bear the city's name are the subject of the next chapter.

For general information only. This article does not constitute legal or tax advice, does not replace advice on an individual case and creates no lawyer-client relationship. It reflects the legal position as of August 2025.