MOROCCO – The administration council of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), known as the bank of central banks, has invited Morocco’s central bank, Bank Al-Maghrib, to join its network.
Morocco’s membership makes it the third African country to join the network, after Algeria and South Africa.
“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,” said the president of the German central bank, Bundesbank, and Chair of the BIS Board, Jens Weidmann.
Kuwait and Vietnam, alongside Morocco, also received an invitation to join the international financial institution, raising the number of members to 63.
BIS represents a forum for policymakers to discuss global economic developments through regular meetings.
It also provides banking services to central banks and other international organizations.
The financial institution was established in 1930 by an intergovernmental agreement between Germany, Belgium, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, Japan, the United States, and Switzerland.
BIS was originally intended to facilitate reparations imposed on Germany by the Treaty of Versailles after World War I, and to act as the trustee for the German Government International Loan (Young Loan) that was floated in 1930.
As an organization of central banks, BIS seeks to make monetary policy more predictable and transparent among its members.
It also aims to regulate capital adequacy and make reserve requirements transparent.
The Bank is owned by its member central banks and is based in Basel, Switzerland. It however, has representative offices in Hong Kong and Mexico City.
