Maechler backs hands-on testing for cross-border payments
Andréa M Maechler, Deputy General Manager of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), said public-private partnerships must generate evidence for policy. Project Agorá has tested tokenised cross-border payments with real-value transactions.
Eight central banks test tokenisation
Speaking at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago's Financial Markets Group conference, Maechler described Project Agorá as the BIS's largest public-private collaboration.
Convened with the Institute of International Finance, it brings together eight central banks and more than 40 financial institutions.
Its functioning prototype combines tokenised central bank reserves and commercial bank deposits on a programmable distributed ledger platform.
Real-value tests across institutions and currencies expose operational, technical, legal and governance issues that simulations cannot reveal.
The project explores simpler wholesale cross-border payments while preserving the two-tier monetary system.
Earlier projects Helvetia and Jura informed the work.
Market ownership meets public responsibility
The voluntary FX Global Code, published in May 2017, illustrates collaboration after foreign exchange misconduct damaged trust.
The BIS Markets Committee and private participants developed practical conduct standards; firms sign a Statement of Commitment.
Maechler chaired the Foreign Exchange Global Code Committee from 2021 to 2023.
The BIS Innovation Hub, established in 2019, complements Basel Process consultation with prototyping.
Its four guardrails are public purpose, clear governance, technological neutrality and public value.
Evidence is not adoption
Maechler stressed that experimentation neither predetermines policy nor guarantees adoption of a technology or platform.
Public authorities retain policy responsibility while private partners supply expertise.
Partnership is justified by public value, not by collaboration itself.