The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) is set to expand its central bank membership base and increase collaboration in its work as a forum for international cooperation as well as a hub for central banks and other financial authorities.

The BIS board of directors decided to invite the central banks of Kuwait, Morocco and Vietnam to become members of the BIS. This is the first such expansion since 2011 and will take the number of members to 63.

Jens Weidmann, chair of the BIS board, welcomed the expansion and said, “Reviewing membership at regular intervals ensures that the membership base remains in keeping with the bank’s global profile and its mandate to promote global monetary and financial stability.”

Also convening in Basel, the Global Economy Meeting (GEM) agreed to expand the membership of two of the central bank committees based at the BIS, the Committee on the Global Financial System and the Markets Committee.

The CGFS, a central bank forum for monitoring and analysing broad financial system issues, will invite Argentina, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and Thailand to join. This will take the number of central bank members to 28. 

The Markets Committee, which monitors financial market developments, will invite Indonesia, Malaysia, Russia, South Africa and Turkey to join. This will take the number of central bank members to 27. 

GEM chair Mark Carney said that following the expansion, emerging market economies (EMEs) would make up about two fifths of the membership of each committee.

“In the last decade, EMEs have become much larger and ever more connected to the global financial system. Having a representative range of views on financial market and monetary matters will benefit the citizens of EMEs and advanced economies alike,” Carney said.