The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) has appointed Cecilia Skingsley from Riksbank as the new head of the BIS Innovation Hub. Skingsley, who is currently the first deputy governor of the Swedish central bank, will begin her five-year term in September, succeeding Benoît Cœuré, who took up the position of president of France’s Competition Authority in January.
Founded in 2019, the BIS Innovation Hub aims to explore new frontiers in financial technology. It operates centres in Hong Kong, London, Singapore, Stockholm, and Switzerland, with plans to open additional centres in Frankfurt/Paris and Toronto this year.
The hub focuses on several priority themes, including central bank digital currencies (CBDC), next-generation financial market infrastructures, supervisory and regulatory technology, open finance, cyber security, and green finance. Sweden’s Riksbank is ahead of many central banks in examining the feasibility of a CBDC, with Skingsley playing a key role in advancing critical international initiatives related to CBDC development.