The Bank for International Settlements is a central bank for central banks

The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) is an international organization owned by 63 central banks around the world. It does not take deposits from regular people or businesses. Instead, it acts as a bank for the central banks themselves — the institutions that control money supply and interest rates in their own countries.

The BIS was founded in 1930 and is based in Basel, Switzerland. Its main job is to help central banks work together on financial stability, set rules that banks must follow across borders, and manage the technical side of international payments between countries. If you hold money in a regular bank, that bank may use BIS systems and follow BIS standards, but you do not interact with the BIS directly.

Understanding what the BIS does matters if you send money across borders, hold accounts in multiple countries, or want to know why your bank follows certain rules about international transfers. The BIS sets many of those rules.

Key Takeaways

  • The BIS is owned by 63 central banks and acts as their bank, not as a bank for individuals or businesses.
  • It sets global standards for how banks manage risk and handle cross-border payments, which affects fees and timelines for your international transfers.
  • The BIS does not hold your money or process your personal transactions — your regular bank does that and follows BIS rules.
  • If you are sending money internationally or dealing with currency exchange, your bank is following BIS guidelines on how to verify your identity and prevent fraud.

How the BIS helps central banks coordinate

Central banks use the BIS as a meeting place and a technical platform. When the Federal Reserve (the US central bank), the European Central Bank, and the Bank of England need to coordinate on interest rates or currency stability, they often do that work through BIS channels. The BIS also hosts committees where central banks agree on rules that all their member banks must follow.

One of the most important BIS committees is the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision. This group writes the rules — called Basel Accords — that tell banks how much capital they must hold in reserve, how to measure risk, and how to prevent money laundering. If your bank requires extra documentation for a wire transfer or freezes an account pending verification, that often comes from a Basel rule.

The BIS also manages the Bank for International Settlements Settlement System, which processes trillions of dollars in payments between central banks every day. This is the infrastructure that makes it possible for your bank to send money to a bank in another country without the payment getting lost or delayed for weeks.

Why BIS rules affect your international transfers

When you send money to another country, your bank must follow rules set or coordinated through the BIS. These rules exist to prevent money laundering, terrorist financing, and fraud — but they also add steps and sometimes delay your transfer.

For example, if you wire money internationally, your bank must verify your identity and the identity of the person receiving the money. It must also check both names against sanctions lists maintained by governments. These checks are required by BIS-coordinated standards called the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) recommendations. The process can take one to three business days, even for routine transfers.

If you are moving money between your own accounts in different countries, the process is usually faster because your bank already knows you. But if you are sending money to someone new, especially to a country with higher perceived risk, your bank may ask for proof of the relationship, the purpose of the transfer, or documentation of where the money came from. This is not your bank being difficult — it is your bank following rules that the BIS helped write.

What the BIS does not do

The BIS does not set interest rates for your savings account or decide whether your bank approves your loan. Those decisions are made by your bank and your country's central bank. The BIS provides tools and standards, but it does not run individual banks or regulate them directly.

The BIS also does not hold your money. If your bank fails, your deposits are protected by your country's deposit insurance system — in the US, that is the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), which insures up to $250,000 per account. The BIS does not may provide deposits or protect you if a bank goes under.

You cannot open an account at the BIS, borrow money from it, or use it to send your own payments. It exists only to serve central banks and help them coordinate with each other.

The BIS and cross-border payment standards

One of the BIS's most practical roles is maintaining standards for how payments move between countries. The organization publishes rules on how banks should format payment information, how long transfers should take, and what information must travel with the money.

The SWIFT system — the network that most international bank transfers use — operates under standards that the BIS helped establish. When your bank sends a wire transfer with a code like SWIFT/BIC, that code format and the routing rules behind it come from BIS-coordinated standards. This is why a transfer to one country might take one day and a transfer to another might take three — the infrastructure and rules vary by country and by which banks are involved.

The BIS is also working on faster payment systems. Many countries are building real-time payment networks that can settle transfers in minutes rather than days. The BIS provides guidance on how these systems should work so that money can move smoothly between countries even when the systems are different.

How the BIS relates to your country's financial rules

Your country's central bank is a member of the BIS and follows its standards. But your country also has its own financial regulators — in the US, that includes the Federal Reserve, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. These regulators enforce BIS standards within your country and may add their own rules on top.

For example, the BIS sets a global standard for how much capital banks must hold. The Federal Reserve then writes rules that tell US banks exactly how to measure and report that capital. Your bank follows both the BIS standard and the Federal Reserve's version of it.

If you are dealing with a bank in another country, that country's regulators enforce the BIS standards in their own way. This is why a bank in the UK might have slightly different rules about international transfers than a bank in Canada, even though both follow BIS guidelines.

What happens when the BIS updates its standards

The BIS updates its standards regularly, usually in response to financial crises or new risks. After the 2008 financial crisis, the BIS published new rules — called Basel III — that required banks to hold more capital and manage risk more carefully. These changes took years to implement and affected how much banks could lend and what they charged for loans.

When the BIS updates standards, your bank does not change overnight. Instead, regulators in your country give banks a timeline — often several years — to come into compliance. During that time, you might notice changes in fees, interest rates, or the requirements for opening new accounts. These changes usually trace back to a BIS standard update, even if your bank does not mention the BIS by name.

The BIS is currently working on standards for digital currencies, cryptocurrency regulation, and climate risk in banking. These standards will shape how banks handle new types of money and new types of risk over the next decade.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I open an account or deposit money at the Bank for International Settlements?

No. The BIS only serves central banks, not individuals or businesses. You must use a regular commercial bank to hold your money and make transfers. Your bank may follow BIS standards, but you do not interact with the BIS directly.

Why does my international wire transfer take so long if the BIS manages payment systems?

The BIS sets standards and provides infrastructure, but the actual speed depends on your bank, the receiving bank, and the countries involved. Some countries have slower payment networks or require extra verification steps. A transfer can take one to five business days depending on these factors, even with BIS systems in place.

Does the BIS protect my money if my bank fails?

No. Deposit protection comes from your country's insurance system — in the US, the FDIC insures deposits up to $250,000. The BIS does not may provide deposits or protect you if a bank goes under. It only helps central banks coordinate.

How does the BIS affect the fees my bank charges for international transfers?

BIS standards require banks to verify identities, check sanctions lists, and maintain certain capital levels. These requirements add cost, which banks pass on through fees. The BIS does not set the fees themselves, but the rules it writes make international transfers more expensive than domestic ones.

What is the difference between the BIS and the International Monetary Fund (IMF)?

The BIS serves central banks and sets banking standards. The IMF lends money to countries in financial crisis and monitors global economic health. They are separate organizations with different roles, though they sometimes coordinate on financial stability issues.