The research analyses the role and place of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) in the global financial architecture (GFA), by focusing on its institutional development, objectives and characteristics that distinguishes the BIS from other international financial institutions, mainly the International Monetary Fund. The main argument is that the BIS, through the transnational networks of central bankers, has a specific position in the GFA by leading the governance of global finance at the ideational level. Two important developments have been significant in that process: the globalisation of finance first rendered the institution to focus on specific roles, such as global standard setting; and secondly to expand its geographical reach to include emerging market economies. With the country case studies, the research aims to analyse how the BIS has turned into an organisation in which the philosophy of central banking in general is developed and dispersed to wider geographical areas.
About the Speaker: Pelin Akkaya Yerli is currently a Ph.D. Candidate at the Department of Political Science, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, the Netherlands. She holds a Bachelors degree in International Relations from the Middle East Technical University, Turkey and a master’s degree in International Political Economy from the University of Warwick, United Kingdom. Her research project focuses on the role of the Bank for International Settlements in the governance of global finance, from the perspective of emerging market economies. Her research interests are critical theories of International Political Economy, global governance and the politics of global finance.