Every currency in a reader's pocket answers to one building. Inside it, a small committee sets the price of money for a nation — or, in Frankfurt, for twenty nations at once. This guide opens those buildings: who governs them, how the governor is chosen and for how long, what the law charges them to do, and the instruments on the table when the committee sits down.

The list covers 36 central banks and monetary authorities in four sections: the Americas, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and the Middle East & Africa. For each: its governor or chair and its deputy leadership, verified individually to October 2026 — a season in which six of the great chairs changed hands, from Washington to Jakarta — its appointment process and term, its mandate in its own terms, its policy instruments in words, its balance-sheet or reserves scale where a dated figure can be sourced, and the published route by which a reader reaches it. Where a name or a number could not be confirmed, the entry says so rather than filling the space. Five entries — the People's Bank of China, the Bank of Russia, the Central Bank of the Republic of Türkiye, the BCRA of Argentina and the National Bank of Ukraine — are treated factually throughout: mandates in the banks' own words, contested matters attributed to their sources, no position taken.

THE AMERICAS

1. FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM (BOARD OF GOVERNORS) — WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES

Founded 1913 · Central bank · North America

Leadership: Kevin Warsh, Chairman of the Board of Governors (took the oath 22 May 2026; nominated 4 March 2026; confirmed by the Senate 13 May 2026, 54–45) — succeeding Jerome H. Powell, whose term as Chair ended in May 2026 and who remains a Governor, his Board seat running to January 2028

Deputy / vice leadership: Philip N. Jefferson, Vice Chair (since 13 September 2023; term as Vice Chair to 7 September 2027); Michelle W. Bowman, Vice Chair for Supervision (since 9 June 2025)

Board / committee: Board of Governors: 7 members. Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC): 12 voting members — the 7 Governors, the President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and 4 rotating Reserve Bank presidents

Appointment & term: Governors are nominated by the President of the United States and confirmed by the Senate for 14-year staggered Board terms; the Chair and Vice Chairs are designated by the President from among the Governors, Senate-confirmed, for four-year terms (Warsh's chair term runs to 21 May 2030)

Mandate: Congress's dual mandate: maximum employment and stable prices, with moderate long-term interest rates; the FOMC pursues a 2 percent inflation objective over time.

Policy instruments: The target range for the federal funds rate (raised to 3.75–4.00 percent at the September 2026 FOMC meeting); interest on reserve balances; overnight reverse repurchase operations; a balance sheet built by quantitative easing after 2008 and reduced by runoff (quantitative tightening) thereafter — posture stated meeting by meeting in FOMC statements

What it does: The Board sets reserve requirements and supervises bank holding companies; the FOMC directs open-market operations executed by the New York Fed's trading desk; the 12 Reserve Banks clear payments, supervise banks in their districts and lend at the discount window.

Functions: Monetary policy; bank supervision and regulation; payment systems (Fedwire, FedNow); currency distribution (notes printed by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, issued through the Reserve Banks); lender of last resort; consumer protection rulemaking

Balance sheet / reserves: Balance-sheet total published weekly in the H.4.1 statistical release (federalreserve.gov); a single figure is not fixed here because the release is weekly — see Sources

Offices: Board in Washington, D.C.; 12 Federal Reserve Banks (Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Richmond, Atlanta, Chicago, St. Louis, Minneapolis, Kansas City, Dallas, San Francisco) with 24 branches · Annual report: Annual Report of the Board of Governors, published each year on federalreserve.gov, covering the prior calendar year; audited System financial statements appear within it

Distinctiveness: The world's most consequential central bank: issuer of the principal reserve currency, and the only one in this guide whose chair changed in 2026 by a Senate vote (54–45) described in coverage as the most partisan for a Fed chair in history

Access: All FOMC statements, minutes (three weeks after each meeting), projections and transcripts (five-year lag) are published free on federalreserve.gov; the Board's library and the System's museum exhibits (notably at the New York Fed) are the public entry routes; data via FRED (St. Louis Fed)

Website: federalreserve.gov · Contact: Public contact form, FOIA and media contacts via federalreserve.gov; Board Public Affairs Office listed on the site · Phone: Not captured from the official site in sources checked for this pass · HQ: Board of Governors, 20th Street and Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20551 (the Marriner S. Eccles Building)

Powell's continuation as a Governor after leaving the chair is unusual and is stated in the bank's own transition reporting; the September 2026 rate increase was the first of the Warsh chairmanship per Reuters coverage.

2. BANK OF CANADA — OTTAWA, CANADA

Founded 1934 · Central bank · North America

Leadership: Tiff Macklem, Governor (since 3 June 2020; second five-year term began June 2025)

Deputy / vice leadership: Carolyn Rogers, Senior Deputy Governor (since December 2021); further Deputy Governors include Toni Gravelle, Sharon Kozicki, Nicolas Vincent and Rhys Mendes, with Michelle Alexopoulos as External Deputy Governor (per the Bank's 2026 press listings)

Board / committee: Governing Council: 6 members (Governor, Senior Deputy Governor and four Deputy Governors; external deputy arrangements noted in the Bank's listings). Board of Directors: up to 15 including ex officio members

Appointment & term: The Governor is appointed by the Governor in Council (federal Cabinet) with Board approval for a seven-year term in statute, served in practice as renewable five-to-seven-year appointments; Macklem's current term runs to June 2027 on the schedule published at his 2020 appointment — term end not re-verified against the Bank's site in this pass and flagged in the README

Mandate: To promote the economic and financial welfare of Canada; since 1991 operated under a joint inflation-control framework with the government, renewed in 2021, targeting 2 percent inflation within a 1–3 percent control range.

Policy instruments: The target for the overnight rate (policy interest rate) — held at 2.25 percent at the 2 September 2026 decision; corridor system with settlement balances; Government of Canada bond purchases were used for quantitative easing in 2020–22 and the portfolio has since run off (quantitative tightening ended as holdings matured)

What it does: Sets the policy rate eight times a year on fixed announcement dates; issues Canada's banknotes (printed under contract); acts as fiscal agent and debt manager for the Government of Canada; oversees payment clearing through Payments Canada arrangements and its own real-time systems work.

Functions: Monetary policy; currency issue; funds management for the government and the Exchange Fund Account; financial-system stability and oversight of payment, clearing and settlement systems; retail payments supervision

Balance sheet / reserves: Foreign reserves are held in the Exchange Fund Account, reported monthly by the Department of Finance Canada; the Bank's own balance sheet is published in its quarterly financial statements — a single dated figure is not fixed here; see Sources

Offices: Head office in Ottawa; regional offices in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Montreal and Halifax; the Bank of Canada Museum is in Ottawa · Annual report: Annual Report published each spring on bankofcanada.ca; quarterly Monetary Policy Report in January, April, July and October

Distinctiveness: Runs the world's longest-standing formal inflation-target renewal process with its government (five-yearly since the 1990s) and operates a public museum devoted to its own currency in its head-office complex

Access: Rate decisions, the Monetary Policy Report, speeches and the Business Outlook Survey are free on bankofcanada.ca; the Bank of Canada Museum in Ottawa is open to the public; statistics are downloadable from the Bank's data portal

Website: bankofcanada.ca · Contact: Media Relations and public information services via bankofcanada.ca contact pages · Phone: Not captured from the official site in sources checked for this pass · HQ: 234 Wellington Street, Ottawa, Ontario (Bank of Canada head office complex)

Governor and Senior Deputy Governor were confirmed in post throughout 2026 by the Bank's own press schedule (parliamentary appearances May 2026; policy press conferences to September 2026).

3. BANCO DE MÉXICO (BANXICO) — MEXICO CITY, MEXICO

Founded 1925 · Central bank · Latin America

Leadership: Victoria Rodríguez Ceja, Governor (since 1 January 2022; the first woman to hold the post; six-year term to 31 December 2027)

Deputy / vice leadership: Four Deputy Governors, including Galia Borja Gómez, Omar Mejía Castelazo, Jonathan Heath and Gabriel Cuadra (board composition as voted in 2026 decisions)

Board / committee: Governing Board: 5 members (Governor plus four Deputy Governors), deciding by majority with published votes

Appointment & term: The Governor is appointed by the President of Mexico and ratified by the Senate for a six-year term; Deputy Governors are likewise presidentially appointed and Senate-ratified for staggered eight-year terms

Mandate: The priority objective in the Bank's law is to procure stability of the purchasing power of the peso — price stability — alongside promoting the sound development of the financial system and the proper functioning of payment systems.

Policy instruments: The overnight interbank target rate (the referencia rate) — cut to 6.50 percent in 2026, ending an easing cycle per the Bank's statements; no quantitative-easing programme has been operated; foreign-exchange intervention has used rules-based auctions and an IMF Flexible Credit Line as backstops

What it does: Conducts monetary policy through the overnight rate target and liquidity operations; issues peso banknotes and coin (coin struck by the Casa de Moneda); manages international reserves; operates the SPEI real-time payment system, among the world's earliest fast-payment systems (2004).

Functions: Monetary policy; currency issue; reserve management; payment systems (SPEI); financial-system regulation jointly with the finance ministry and the banking commission; statistics

Balance sheet / reserves: International reserves published weekly in the Bank's estado de cuenta (weekly statement) on banxico.org.mx; a single figure is not fixed here because the statement is weekly

Offices: Head office in Mexico City (Avenida 5 de Mayo); regional cash and representation offices across Mexico · Annual report: Annual Report (Informe Anual) presented to Congress each spring; quarterly inflation reports (Informe Trimestral) in February, May, August and November

Distinctiveness: Its SPEI system made Mexico a fast-payments pioneer two decades ago, and its board publishes individual votes and full minutes on a short lag, a transparency standard much of this guide does not match

Access: Decisions, minutes, the quarterly inflation report and extensive data are free on banxico.org.mx (Spanish, with core documents in English); the Museo Banco de México in the head-office building is open to the public

Website: banxico.org.mx · Contact: Public contact and transparency portal via banxico.org.mx · Phone: Not captured from the official site in sources checked for this pass · HQ: Avenida 5 de Mayo No. 2, Centro, Mexico City (head office)

2026 decisions were repeatedly split 3–2, with Governor Rodríguez Ceja voting with Deputy Governors Mejía and Cuadra in the cuts reported in May–June 2026 coverage.

4. BANCO CENTRAL DO BRASIL (BCB) — BRASÍLIA, BRAZIL

Founded 1964 · Central bank · Latin America

Leadership: Gabriel Galípolo, President (took office January 2025 for a four-year term)

Deputy / vice leadership: Brazil has no single deputy-president office; the most senior directors include the Directors of Monetary Policy and of International Affairs serving on the nine-member board — individual deputy-equivalent titles not published in the sources checked

Board / committee: Copom / Board of Directors: 9 members (President plus eight Directors)

Appointment & term: The President and Directors are nominated by the President of Brazil and confirmed by the Senate for staggered four-year terms under the 2021 autonomy law; the President's term begins in the third year of a presidential mandate

Mandate: Under the autonomy law, the primary objective is price stability — keeping inflation at the target set by the National Monetary Council (3 percent, with a tolerance band) — without prejudice to smoothing output fluctuations and fostering full employment, and to ensuring a stable, efficient financial system.

Policy instruments: The Selic target rate, set by Copom eight times a year (held at 15 percent through much of 2025, the highest in nearly two decades, per Reuters coverage); reserve requirements; open-market operations; no standing QE programme — bond purchases were authorised and used briefly in 2020

What it does: Sets the Selic rate; supervises banks and the payments system; operates Pix, the instant-payment platform launched in 2020 and now used by most Brazilian adults; manages reserves and issues the real (notes printed by the Casa da Moeda).

Functions: Monetary policy; financial supervision; payment systems (Pix, SPB); currency issue; reserve management; financial inclusion and citizenship programmes

Balance sheet / reserves: International reserves and the Bank's balance sheet are published in the BCB's weekly and monthly statistical releases on bcb.gov.br; a single dated figure is not fixed here; see Sources

Offices: Head office in Brasília; regional offices in nine state capitals including São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte, Porto Alegre and Recife · Annual report: Annual Report and the quarterly Inflation Report (Relatório de Inflação) published on bcb.gov.br; Copom minutes are published within a week of each meeting

Distinctiveness: Pix is the guide's clearest case of a central bank building retail payment infrastructure used daily by an entire country; the 2021 autonomy law is also among the newest formal independence statutes in this guide

Access: Decisions, minutes, the Inflation Report, Focus survey expectations and open data are free on bcb.gov.br (Portuguese, with an English section); the BCB's Money Museum (Museu de Valores) in Brasília is the public entry route

Website: bcb.gov.br · Contact: Public contact (Fale conosco / BCB citizen channels) via bcb.gov.br · Phone: Not captured from the official site in sources checked for this pass · HQ: Setor Bancário Sul (SBS), Quadra 3, Brasília, DF (head office)

Galípolo, a presidential nominee who succeeded Roberto Campos Neto in January 2025, publicly framed his mandate in 2025–26 speeches as a legal determination set by the inflation-target framework.

5. BANCO CENTRAL DE LA REPÚBLICA ARGENTINA (BCRA) — BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA

Founded 1935 · Central bank (factual entry) · Latin America

Leadership: Santiago Bausili, President (in office since December 2023; testifying before the Senate and representing the Bank at the October 2026 IMF meetings)

Deputy / vice leadership: Vladimir Werning, Vice President

Board / committee: Board of Directors: 10 members (President, Vice President and eight directors) under the current charter

Appointment & term: The President and directors are appointed by the Executive Branch with the agreement of the Senate for six-year renewable terms under the current charter; the 2026 draft charter would change removal rules (proposal only, per Senate reporting)

Mandate: Under the current charter: to promote, within the Bank's powers and the policies set by the national government, monetary stability, financial stability, employment and economic development with social equity. The 2026 draft would make preservation of the currency the primary objective (proposal, not enacted at press time)

Policy instruments: No single announced policy-rate target in the current framework: policy works through the monetary base and short-term BCRA instruments (pases and, formerly, Leliqs, wound down in 2024–25), reserve requirements and a managed exchange-rate band — described in the Bank's Monetary Policy Report; gross reserves accumulation was the headline metric in 2026 reporting

What it does: Issues the peso; accumulates and manages international reserves (purchases exceeded USD 15 billion in the first ten months of 2026 per market reporting of BCRA data); supervises financial institutions; operates the payments system and publishes the quarterly Monetary Policy Report (IPOM).

Functions: Currency issue; reserve management; banking supervision; payment systems; monetary and exchange-rate policy within the government programme; statistics

Balance sheet / reserves: Gross international reserves above USD 50 billion in October 2026 (BCRA purchase data reported 16 October 2026); the Bank publishes reserves daily on bcra.gob.ar

Offices: Head office in Buenos Aires (Reconquista 266); a network of agencies and the BCRA Museum (Museo Histórico y Numismático) in the historic San Martín 216 building · Annual report: Annual Report and quarterly Monetary Policy Report (IPOM) published on bcra.gob.ar

Distinctiveness: The guide's most politically exposed entry: its charter was under active congressional rewrite in 2026, and its president's formal Senate confirmation was tied by the government to that reform — all printed here as reported process, without a position

Access: Daily reserves, decisions, the IPOM and statistics are free on bcra.gob.ar (Spanish, partial English); the BCRA museum in Buenos Aires is open to the public

Website: bcra.gob.ar · Contact: Public contact and institutional channels via bcra.gob.ar · Phone: Not captured from the official site in sources checked for this pass · HQ: Reconquista 266, Buenos Aires (head office)

Factual treatment: allegations in an October 2026 legal filing concerning 2025 gold-linked derivatives are reported in Argentine media as allegations only; no findings are stated and none are printed here as fact.

6. BANCO CENTRAL DE CHILE (BCCH) — SANTIAGO, CHILE

Founded 1925 · Central bank · Latin America

Leadership: Rosanna Costa, President (Governor) (a councillor since 2022 and President since February 2022; represented Chile at the IMFC, 16–17 October 2026)

Deputy / vice leadership: The Council elects a Vice President from among its members; the name holding that office at press time was not confirmed in the sources checked for this pass and is flagged in the README

Board / committee: Council: 5 members

Appointment & term: Councillors are appointed by the President of the Republic with Senate agreement for staggered ten-year terms; the Bank's President is designated from among them for a five-year term

Mandate: Under its Basic Constitutional Act: to safeguard the stability of the currency — keeping inflation low and stable (an operational target of 3 percent within a 2–4 percent range) — and the normal functioning of internal and external payments.

Policy instruments: The monetary policy rate (TPM), set at scheduled Council meetings (cut to 4.50 percent by December 2025 per the Bank's reporting cycle); no QE programme is operated; foreign-exchange intervention is exceptional and announced in advance when used

What it does: Sets the TPM against its inflation target; issues the peso; publishes the quarterly Monetary Policy Report (IPoM) and Financial Stability Report (IEF); compiles Chile's balance of payments and national statistics functions assigned by law.

Functions: Monetary policy; currency issue; payment-system oversight; reserve management; statistics; financial-stability reporting (supervision of banks sits with the separate Financial Market Commission, CMF)

Balance sheet / reserves: International reserves and the Bank's balance sheet are published monthly on bcentral.cl; a single dated figure is not fixed here; see Sources

Offices: Head office in Santiago (Agustinas 1180); no branch network — representation is from the head office · Annual report: Annual Report (Memoria) published each year; IPoM quarterly (March, June, September, December) and IEF twice yearly, all on bcentral.cl

Distinctiveness: Ten-year staggered council terms — the longest appointment horizon in the Americas section — and a president drawn from inside the council rather than appointed to the chair directly

Access: IPoM, IEF, decisions, minutes and a full statistics database are free on bcentral.cl (Spanish and English); the Bank runs a public numismatic collection and schools programmes from Santiago

Website: bcentral.cl · Contact: Institutional contact via bcentral.cl · Phone: Not captured from the official site in sources checked for this pass · HQ: Agustinas 1180, Santiago (head office)

Costa's presidency and the December 2025 rate setting are confirmed by the Bank's own presentation records and IMF meeting documents for October 2026.

EUROPE

7. EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK (ECB) — FRANKFURT AM MAIN, GERMANY

Founded 1998 · Central bank (Eurosystem) · Europe — euro area

Leadership: Christine Lagarde, President (since 1 November 2019; her single eight-year non-renewable term ends 31 October 2027)

Deputy / vice leadership: Boris Vujčić, Vice-President (since 1 June 2026; appointed by the European Council 19 March 2026; formerly Governor of the Croatian National Bank) — succeeding Luis de Guindos, whose term ended 31 May 2026. Chief Economist: Philip R. Lane

Board / committee: Governing Council: 26 members (6 Executive Board + 20 national governors), with voting rights rotating among governors above a set threshold. Executive Board: 6 members

Appointment & term: The President, Vice-President and Executive Board are appointed by the European Council, by qualified majority, on a Council recommendation after consulting the European Parliament and the Governing Council, for single non-renewable eight-year terms

Mandate: The primary objective in the EU Treaties is price stability, defined by the ECB as 2 percent inflation over the medium term (symmetric, since the 2021 strategy review); without prejudice to that, the ECB supports the Union's general economic policies, and it is charged with the prudential supervision of significant banks (SSM).

Policy instruments: Three key rates — the deposit facility rate (the principal steering rate since 2024), the main refinancing operations rate and the marginal lending rate; asset purchases: the APP and the pandemic PEPP built a large portfolio now in runoff (no reinvestment — quantitative tightening by maturity); the Transmission Protection Instrument stands as an anti-fragmentation backstop

What it does: Sets one monetary policy for 20 countries; conducts foreign-exchange operations and holds the Eurosystem's reserves; authorises euro banknote issuance (notes are issued by the national central banks); supervises significant euro-area banks directly through the Single Supervisory Mechanism; oversees TARGET payment services.

Functions: Monetary policy; banking supervision (SSM); currency issue authorisation; payment systems (T2, TIPS); reserve management; statistics; financial-stability analysis for the euro area

Balance sheet / reserves: The Eurosystem's consolidated balance sheet is published weekly and the ECB's annual accounts each February on ecb.europa.eu; a single dated figure is not fixed here because the statement is weekly

Offices: Seat in Frankfurt (Sonnemannstrasse, Ostend, in the former Grossmarkthalle complex); representation offices in Brussels, Washington, D.C., and (with the Commission) elsewhere; the 20 national central banks are its operating arm · Annual report: ECB Annual Report presented to the European Parliament each spring; the Annual Report on supervisory activities and the Eurosystem annual accounts are published alongside on ecb.europa.eu

Distinctiveness: The only central bank in this guide that is itself a creature of treaty among 20 sovereign states, supervises banks across borders, and changed its vice-president in 2026 to a governor from the euro's newest member country

Access: Decisions, accounts of meetings, data (ECB Data Portal) and research are free on ecb.europa.eu in the EU's languages; the ECB visitor centre in Frankfurt takes booked public groups

Website: ecb.europa.eu · Contact: Media and public contact via ecb.europa.eu (info@ecb.europa.eu is the published general address on the site) · Phone: Not captured from the official site in sources checked for this pass · HQ: Sonnemannstrasse 20, 60314 Frankfurt am Main, Germany (head office)

Reporting in October 2026 that Lagarde might leave before October 2027 (Reuters, 15 October 2026, on a possible World Economic Forum appointment) is speculation the ECB declined to comment on; she remains President and is printed as such. Isabel Schnabel's announced departure from the Executive Board (January 2027, to the IMF) is noted in the same coverage.

8. BANK OF ENGLAND — LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM

Founded 1694 · Central bank · Europe — United Kingdom

Leadership: Andrew Bailey, Governor (term of appointment 16 March 2020 to 15 March 2028, per the Bank's official biography)

Deputy / vice leadership: Four Deputy Governors serve concurrently: Sarah Breeden (Financial Stability), Clare Lombardelli (Monetary Policy), Sir Dave Ramsden (Markets & Banking) and Sam Woods (Prudential Regulation; also CEO of the Prudential Regulation Authority) — per the Court minutes of 12 February 2026

Board / committee: MPC: 9 members (Governor, three Deputy Governors for monetary policy/financial stability/markets, the Chief Economist, and four external members appointed by the Chancellor). Court of Directors: the Governor, 4 Deputy Governors and 9 non-executive directors under the current composition

Appointment & term: The Governor is appointed by the Crown on the advice of the Prime Minister and Chancellor for a single eight-year term; Deputy Governors serve five-year terms, renewable once; external MPC members serve three-year terms

Mandate: Price stability — defined by the Chancellor's remit as 2 percent CPI inflation — and, subject to that, support for the government's economic policy; financial stability through the FPC; and safety and soundness of insurers and deposit-takers through the PRC/PRA.

Policy instruments: Bank Rate (cut through 2025–26 to 3.75 percent by February 2026 per the Governor's reporting); the Asset Purchase Facility's gilt portfolio — quantitative tightening continues, with the Bank's September 2026 letters setting a multi-year unwind path for the APF (a £488 billion gilt stock at that date) including active sales

What it does: Sets Bank Rate and the stock of purchased assets through the MPC; issues sterling banknotes; regulates banks and insurers prudentially through the PRA; operates the UK's real-time gross settlement system (RTGS/CHAPS); acts as resolution authority.

Functions: Monetary policy; prudential supervision; financial stability (FPC); currency issue; payment systems (RTGS); bank resolution; the government's banker and debt-management oversight framework with the DMO

Balance sheet / reserves: APF gilt holdings of £488 billion at September 2026 (Governor's and Chancellor's letters of 17 September 2026); the Bank's full balance sheet is in its Annual Report and weekly Bank Return

Offices: Head office in Threadneedle Street, London; an office in Leeds; Agents' network of 12 agencies across the UK; the Bank of England Museum is in Bartholomew Lane, London · Annual report: Annual Report and Accounts published each summer; Monetary Policy Report quarterly (February, May, August, November); the Governor's annual report to the Treasury Committee each February

Distinctiveness: The oldest continuously operating central bank in this guide after Sweden's Riksbank, and the only one whose purchased-asset stock is indemnified by its treasury under a published exchange of letters

Access: Decisions, minutes, the Monetary Policy Report, speeches and data are free on bankofengland.co.uk; the Bank of England Museum (Bartholomew Lane) is free and open on weekdays; the Citizens' Panels are its standing public-engagement route

Website: bankofengland.co.uk · Contact: Enquiries line and contact forms via bankofengland.co.uk · Phone: +44 (0)20 3461 4444 (switchboard); enquiries +44 (0)20 3461 4878 (per the Bank's official Governor biography page) · HQ: Threadneedle Street, London, EC2R 8AH

Deputy-governor titles and Court composition are taken from the Bank's Court minutes of 12 February 2026, the freshest official composition source checked.

9. SWISS NATIONAL BANK (SNB) — ZURICH AND BERNE (DUAL SEAT), SWITZERLAND

Founded 1907 · Central bank · Europe — Switzerland

Leadership: Martin Schlegel, Chairman of the Governing Board (since 1 October 2024; appointed by the Federal Council on 26 June 2024, succeeding Thomas Jordan)

Deputy / vice leadership: Antoine Martin, Vice Chairman of the Governing Board (since 1 October 2024); third member: Petra Tschudin

Board / committee: Governing Board: 3 members (plus three Alternate Members). Bank Council: 11 members

Appointment & term: Governing Board members are appointed by the Federal Council on the Bank Council's recommendation for six-year renewable terms; the current term runs 1 July 2021 to 30 June 2027 for the offices filled in 2024

Mandate: Under the Constitution and the National Bank Act, the SNB conducts monetary policy in the interests of the country as a whole, with price stability as its primary objective — defined as annual CPI inflation of 0–2 percent — while taking account of economic developments.

Policy instruments: The SNB policy rate (held at 0 percent at the 24 September 2026 assessment, with tiered remuneration of sight deposits) and willingness to intervene in the foreign-exchange market, which the Board stated in March and September 2026 had increased; no domestic QE programme — its balance sheet is dominated by foreign-exchange investments accumulated through intervention

What it does: Sets the policy rate at quarterly assessments; intervenes in currency markets to ensure appropriate monetary conditions; issues Swiss franc banknotes; operates the SIC interbank payment system with SIX; compiles statistics and acts as the Confederation's bank.

Functions: Monetary policy; currency issue; foreign-exchange reserve investment; payment-system oversight and SIC operations; financial-stability analysis (bank supervision itself sits with FINMA); lender of last resort

Balance sheet / reserves: Balance-sheet total and foreign-currency investments are published monthly in the SNB's statistical release and annual report on snb.ch; the portfolio is predominantly foreign-exchange reserves — a single dated figure is not fixed here; see Sources

Offices: Two head offices — Berne (federal seat functions) and Zurich (monetary policy and markets); a branch office in Singapore; representative functions through its offices in Switzerland · Annual report: Annual Report published each March ahead of the April/May General Meeting of Shareholders; quarterly monetary policy assessments in March, June, September and December

Distinctiveness: The only listed-company central bank in this guide with a capped public dividend, and the only one that answers an easing question with a 0 percent rate and an explicit intervention pledge rather than asset purchases

Access: Assessments, speeches, the annual report and one of the world's deepest open statistical portals are free on snb.ch (German, French, Italian, English); the SNB Forum in Zurich is its public event space

Website: snb.ch · Contact: Contact and media pages via snb.ch · Phone: Not captured from the official site in sources checked for this pass · HQ: Börsenstrasse 15, 8022 Zurich; Bundesplatz 1, 3003 Berne (dual head offices)

Governing Board composition and the September 2026 decision are taken from the BIS record of the Board's own news-conference remarks of 24 September 2026.

10. SVERIGES RIKSBANK — STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN

Founded 1668 · Central bank · Europe — Sweden

Leadership: Erik Thedéen, Governor (since 1 January 2023; six-year term)

Deputy / vice leadership: Deputy Governors Per Jansson, Aino Bunge, Anna Seim and Göran Hjelm (Executive Board membership as reported through 2026; the First Deputy Governor chair stood vacant after Anna Breman's departure in October 2025 in the sources checked and is flagged in the README)

Board / committee: Executive Board: 5 members (Governor plus four Deputy Governors); the Board sat with four members in early 2026 pending an appointment, the Governor holding the casting vote

Appointment & term: Executive Board members are appointed by the General Council for terms of five or six years; the Governor is appointed from among them

Mandate: Under the Riksbank Act, the primary objective is price stability — an inflation target of 2 percent (CPIF) — and, without prejudice to that, the Riksbank promotes a safe and efficient payment system and contributes to financial stability.

Policy instruments: The policy rate (held at 1.75 percent at the 24 September 2026 decision, with a possible rise signalled for later in the year); securities holdings from pandemic-era purchases are being run off — no new QE; the RIX payment system and an e-krona investigation are its payments work

What it does: Sets the policy rate (eight scheduled meetings a year); issues krona banknotes and coins; operates the RIX settlement system; holds and manages the foreign-exchange reserves (partly financed historically through Riksgälden loans, since moved on-balance-sheet); publishes the Monetary Policy Report five times a year.

Functions: Monetary policy; currency issue; payment systems (RIX); reserve management; financial-stability analysis with Finansinspektionen (supervision is FI's); statistics

Balance sheet / reserves: Balance-sheet and reserves data are published in the Riksbank's statistical database and annual report on riksbank.se; a single dated figure is not fixed here; see Sources

Offices: Head office in Stockholm (Brunkebergstorg 11); no domestic branches; banknote handling through cash-in-transit partners · Annual report: Annual Report to the Riksdag each February/March; Monetary Policy Report five times a year; Financial Stability Report twice yearly

Distinctiveness: The world's oldest central bank (1668), owned in accountability to a parliament rather than a government, and the former home of the RBNZ's current governor — a transfer between two entries in this guide

Access: Decisions, minutes (published about two weeks after meetings), reports and the full statistical database are free on riksbank.se (Swedish and English); lectures and the Riksbank's public events run from Stockholm

Website: riksbank.se · Contact: Contact pages via riksbank.se · Phone: Not captured from the official site in sources checked for this pass · HQ: Brunkebergstorg 11, 103 37 Stockholm (head office)

Anna Breman, First Deputy Governor until 11 October 2025, became Governor of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand on 1 December 2025 — see the RBNZ entry. Göran Hjelm appears as a Deputy Governor in 2026 reporting.

11. NORGES BANK — OSLO, NORWAY

Founded 1816 · Central bank · Europe — Norway

Leadership: Ida Wolden Bache, Governor (since 24 March 2022; appointed for a six-year term to 2028; the first woman to hold the office)

Deputy / vice leadership: Two Deputy Governors: Pål Longva (First Deputy Governor) and Øystein Børsum (Second Deputy Governor/Chief of Staff functions per the Bank's board records)

Board / committee: Monetary Policy and Financial Stability Committee: 5 members (Governor, two Deputy Governors, two external members — Steinar Holden and Hilde Bjørnland, the latter from 1 January 2026). Executive Board: 9 appointed members plus employee representatives

Appointment & term: The Governor and Deputy Governors are appointed by the King in Council (the government) for six-year terms, renewable once; external board and committee members are appointed for four-year terms

Mandate: Under the Central Bank Act and the monetary-policy regulation set by the government: low and stable inflation — an operational target of 2 percent over time — contributing to high and stable output and employment and to counteracting financial imbalances.

Policy instruments: The policy rate (sight deposit rate), set eight times a year; no QE programme has been operated — the Bank's balance sheet for policy purposes is small next to the fund it manages; foreign-exchange transactions are made for the fund and petroleum-revenue conversion, not as a policy-rate tool

What it does: Sets the policy rate; issues krone banknotes and coins; runs the NBO payment system; manages the foreign-exchange reserves; and, through NBIM, invests the Government Pension Fund Global — the world's largest sovereign wealth fund — under a mandate from the Ministry of Finance.

Functions: Monetary policy; currency issue; payment systems; reserve management; sovereign-fund investment management (NBIM); financial-stability analysis (bank supervision sits with Finanstilsynet)

Balance sheet / reserves: The fund's market value and the Bank's reserves are published quarterly by NBIM and the Bank on norges-bank.no and nbim.no; fund value is stated there rather than fixed here because it moves daily with markets

Offices: Head office in Oslo (Bankplassen 2); NBIM offices in London, New York, Singapore and Shanghai; no domestic branch network · Annual report: Annual Report each spring; NBIM annual reporting each February/March; Monetary Policy Report four times a year

Distinctiveness: A central bank whose investment arm manages a sovereign fund larger than its own country's GDP several times over — the management mandate, not the policy rate, is what makes Norges Bank globally singular

Access: Decisions, the Monetary Policy Report, the fund's complete holdings list (published annually by NBIM) and statistics are free on norges-bank.no and nbim.no; NBIM's transparency portal is the deepest public entry route in this guide

Website: norges-bank.no · Contact: Contact pages via norges-bank.no · Phone: Not captured from the official site in sources checked for this pass · HQ: Bankplassen 2, 0151 Oslo (head office)

Executive Board composition (16 May 2026 table) and the committee's five-member structure are taken from the Bank's own published board records checked October 2026.

12. DANMARKS NATIONALBANK — COPENHAGEN, DENMARK

Founded 1818 · Central bank · Europe — Denmark

Leadership: Christian Kettel Thomsen, Governor by Royal Appointment and Chairman of the Board of Governors (since 1 February 2023)

Deputy / vice leadership: No single deputy office: the other two Governors are Signe Krogstrup and Ulrik Nødgaard (per the Bank's official organisation page)

Board / committee: Board of Governors: 3 members. Board of Directors: 25 members

Appointment & term: The Chairman is appointed by the Crown (in practice by the government); the other two Governors are appointed by the Board of Directors; Governors must retire by the end of the month in which they turn 70 (Nationalbank Act, per the Bank's organisation page)

Mandate: Under the National Bank Act the Bank's purpose is to maintain a safe and secure currency system and to facilitate money circulation and credit provision; in practice its monetary policy maintains the krone's fixed exchange rate to the euro, which anchors price stability in Denmark.

Policy instruments: A suite of rates — the current-account rate, certificate-of-deposit rate, lending rate and discount rate — moved to defend the peg; foreign-exchange intervention is the first line for the krone; no QE programme is operated

What it does: Defends the krone's ERM II parity by setting rates at a small spread to the ECB and intervening in currency markets; issues krone banknotes and oversees coin production (outsourced); runs the Kronos2 RTGS system and oversees payments; compiles Denmark's financial statistics.

Functions: Exchange-rate (monetary) policy; currency issue; payment-system operation and oversight; reserve management; statistics; financial-stability analysis with the Danish FSA (supervision is the FSA's)

Balance sheet / reserves: Foreign-exchange reserve of DKK 479,065 million (figure carried in the Bank's balance specification reproduced in reference sources; month-end reserves are published monthly on nationalbanken.dk and move with intervention)

Offices: Head office in Copenhagen (Langelinie Allé 47, the Bank's home during the renovation of its Arne Jacobsen building on Havnegade); no branches · Annual report: Annual Report published each March; economic projections and the 'Monetary and Financial Trends' reporting through the year on nationalbanken.dk

Distinctiveness: The guide's clearest fixed-exchange-rate case: a central bank whose entire rate structure exists to hold a currency peg, and whose chairman is, in form, a royal appointee

Access: Analyses, projections, speeches, statistics and the monthly balance are free on nationalbanken.dk (Danish and English); its restored Havnegade building project is documented publicly on the site

Website: nationalbanken.dk · Contact: kommunikation@nationalbanken.dk; contact pages via nationalbanken.dk · Phone: +45 3363 6363 (per the Bank's published press pages) · HQ: Langelinie Allé 47, 2100 Copenhagen Ø (current head office; historic seat: Havnegade 5)

Board of Governors composition is from the Bank's own organisation page checked October 2026; Thomsen presented the Bank's September 2026 projection in that office.

13. DEUTSCHE BUNDESBANK — FRANKFURT AM MAIN, GERMANY

Founded 1957 · Central bank (Eurosystem national central bank) · Europe — Germany

Leadership: Joachim Nagel, President (since 1 January 2022; appearing in that office in May 2026 international panel records)

Deputy / vice leadership: Sabine Mauderer, Vice-President (since 2023; also the Bank's representative roles in climate-finance networks are published on bundesbank.de)

Board / committee: Executive Board: 6 members

Appointment & term: The President, Vice-President and board members are appointed by the President of the Federal Republic on the federal government's nomination (after consulting the Bundesrat for some seats) for eight-year terms, renewable

Mandate: As part of the Eurosystem, the primary objective is price stability for the euro area; nationally the Bundesbank contributes to banking supervision with BaFin, financial stability, cash supply and payment systems under the Bundesbank Act.

Policy instruments: Implements Eurosystem operations in Germany; holds part of the Eurosystem's purchased portfolios; no independent rate or QE of its own since 1999 — its policy instrument is its Governing Council vote and its published analysis

What it does: Executes ECB monetary policy and collateral operations for German counterparties; supervises banks jointly with BaFin; supplies and recycles euro cash (Germany is the euro area's largest cash economy); operates payment infrastructure and compiles German statistics.

Functions: Eurosystem policy implementation; banking supervision (with BaFin); cash management; payment systems; reserve and portfolio management; statistics

Balance sheet / reserves: The Bundesbank's balance sheet (the largest among Eurosystem national banks) is published in its annual report and monthly statistical supplement on bundesbank.de; a single dated figure is not fixed here

Offices: Central office in Frankfurt; nine regional offices (Hauptverwaltungen) across the Länder and 31 branches · Annual report: Annual Report (Geschäftsbericht) published each February/March; Monthly Report with the Bank's analysis

Distinctiveness: The institutional heir of the Mark era inside the euro system: no policy rate of its own, yet its president's Governing Council voice and its cash operations make it a peer entry rather than a footnote to the ECB

Access: Reports, statistics, the Monthly Report and its money museum (Geldmuseum) in Frankfurt are the public routes; the Geldmuseum is free and open on weekdays

Website: bundesbank.de · Contact: Contact and media pages via bundesbank.de · Phone: Not captured from the official site in sources checked for this pass · HQ: Wilhelm-Epstein-Strasse 14, 60431 Frankfurt am Main (central office)

Included as a defensible peer: the largest Eurosystem national central bank, with its own supervision, cash and payments mandates distinct from the ECB's.

14. BANCO DE ESPAÑA — MADRID, SPAIN

Founded 1782 · Central bank (Eurosystem national central bank) · Europe — Spain

Leadership: José Luis Escrivá, Governor (since 6 September 2024; his published diary as Governor and ECB Governing Council member runs through 2026)

Deputy / vice leadership: Soledad Núñez, Deputy Governor (since September 2024; named under the convention by which the deputy is agreed with the opposition — the appointment reporting is noted in Sources)

Board / committee: Governing Council: 10 members (Governor, Deputy Governor, six appointed councillors and two ex officio members)

Appointment & term: The Governor is appointed by the Crown on the Prime Minister's proposal for a single six-year term; the Deputy Governor is appointed on the Governor's proposal under the same single-term rule

Mandate: As part of the Eurosystem, price stability for the euro area; nationally: banking supervision within the SSM framework, cash, payments oversight, financial stability and the Central Balance Sheet and credit-register (CIR) data services under its autonomy law.

Policy instruments: Implements Eurosystem operations in Spain; its instruments are supervisory and analytical at national level plus its ECB Governing Council seat — no national rate or QE since 1999

What it does: Supervises Spanish credit institutions (with the ECB for significant banks); manages euro cash distribution in Spain; runs the CIR credit register, one of Europe's oldest; produces Spain's macroeconomic projections and the Central Balance Sheet business data.

Functions: Eurosystem implementation; banking supervision; cash; payments oversight; statistics and business data (Central de Balances); reserve management

Balance sheet / reserves: Balance sheet published monthly in the Bank's statistical bulletin and annual report on bde.es; a single dated figure is not fixed here

Offices: Head office in Madrid (Calle de Alcalá 48); 15 branches across Spain · Annual report: Annual Report presented each spring/summer; quarterly economic projections published with its Boletín Económico

Distinctiveness: Its governor arrived directly from a cabinet post in 2024 — an appointment whose reporting (noted in Sources) debated the Bank's independence, which the entry records factually; its credit register and business database are peerless data assets in the Eurosystem

Access: Reports, statistics, the CIR and Central Balance Sheet services and its Madrid exhibition spaces are the public routes via bde.es (Spanish and English)

Website: bde.es · Contact: Contact and transparency portal via bde.es · Phone: Not captured from the official site in sources checked for this pass · HQ: Calle de Alcalá 48, 28014 Madrid (head office)

Escrivá's governorship through 2026 is confirmed by the Bank's own published governor's diaries for February and April 2026.

15. DE NEDERLANDSCHE BANK (DNB) — AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS

Founded 1814 · Central bank (Eurosystem national central bank) · Europe — Netherlands

Leadership: Olaf Sleijpen, President (since 1 July 2025, succeeding Klaas Knot; also Chair of the NGFS from 2026 per his published biography)

Deputy / vice leadership: The Netherlands has no deputy-president office; executive directors serve under the President — the directorate composition is published on dnb.nl and was not captured name-by-name in sources checked

Board / committee: Governing Board: the President plus executive directors for supervision, monetary affairs and operations (composition published on dnb.nl)

Appointment & term: The President is appointed by Royal Decree on the government's nomination for a seven-year term, renewable once

Mandate: As part of the Eurosystem, price stability for the euro area; nationally DNB is the prudential supervisor of banks, insurers and pension funds, the resolution authority, and guardian of payment-system soundness under the Bank Act 1998 and financial-supervision law.

Policy instruments: Implements Eurosystem operations in the Netherlands; nationally its instruments are supervisory — licensing, capital and conduct-of-business oversight shared with the AFM — rather than a national policy rate

What it does: Supervises the Dutch financial sector prudentially (including Europe's large pension funds); executes ECB policy for Dutch counterparties; manages cash and the reserves portfolio; compiles statistics.

Functions: Eurosystem implementation; prudential supervision (banks, insurers, pension funds); resolution; cash; payments oversight; statistics

Balance sheet / reserves: Balance sheet published in DNB's annual report and statistical releases on dnb.nl; a single dated figure is not fixed here

Offices: Head office in Amsterdam (Frederiksplein, reopened after renovation); a visitor centre (De Nederlandsche Bank Visitor Centre) in Amsterdam; no branch network · Annual report: Annual Report published each March; DNB publishes its economic projections (ramingen) three times a year

Distinctiveness: The euro-area supervisor with the widest national remit — pensions included — and a president who in 2026 also chairs the global central banks' climate network (NGFS)

Access: Reports, statistics, supervision registers and its Amsterdam visitor centre are the public routes via dnb.nl (Dutch and English)

Website: dnb.nl · Contact: Contact pages via dnb.nl · Phone: Not captured from the official site in sources checked for this pass · HQ: Frederiksplein 61, 1017 XL Amsterdam (head office)

Sleijpen's presidency and NGFS chairmanship are from his published institutional biography checked October 2026.

16. NARODOWY BANK POLSKI (NBP) — WARSAW, POLAND

Founded 1945 · Central bank · Europe — Poland

Leadership: Adam Glapiński, President (Governor) (second and final term expires June 2028, per Reuters reporting of October 2026)

Deputy / vice leadership: First Deputy President: Marta Kightley (in office since 2020; the Bank's published board listing) — deputy listing not re-verified against nbp.pl in this pass and flagged in the README

Board / committee: Monetary Policy Council (RPP): 10 members (the NBP President as chair plus nine members appointed in equal thirds by the President of the Republic, the Sejm and the Senate). Management Board: the President, First Deputy and board members under the NBP Act

Appointment & term: The President of the NBP is appointed by the Sejm at the request of the President of the Republic for a six-year term, renewable once. RPP members serve single six-year terms

Mandate: Under the Constitution and the NBP Act, the primary objective is price stability — an inflation target of 2.5 percent ±1 percentage point set by the RPP — while supporting the government's economic policies insofar as they do not constrain the primary objective.

Policy instruments: The reference rate and a corridor of deposit/lombard rates; open-market operations in NBP bills; reserve requirements; asset purchases were operated in 2020–21 (the secondary-market programme whose authorisation is at issue in the tribunal proceedings noted below) and have not been repeated

What it does: Sets rates through the RPP; issues the złoty; manages Poland's official reserves (including one of the world's largest central-bank gold-accumulation programmes of recent years); operates the SORBNET2 payment system; supervises payment services (bank supervision sits with the KNF).

Functions: Monetary policy; currency issue; reserve and gold management; payment systems; statistics; financial-stability analysis

Balance sheet / reserves: Official reserve assets are published monthly on nbp.pl (Poland's reserves, gold included, are among the largest in the EU); a single dated figure is not fixed here; see Sources

Offices: Head office in Warsaw (Świętokrzyska 11/21); 16 regional branches in voivodeship capitals; the Money Centre (Centrum Pieniądza NBP) museum in Warsaw · Annual report: Annual Report of the NBP and the RPP's annual Monetary Policy Assumptions and Implementation reports, published on nbp.pl; Inflation Report three times a year

Distinctiveness: The only entry in this guide whose governor faces a parliamentary process toward a State Tribunal — reported factually in Notes; the Sejm vote was scheduled for the second half of November 2026 — and a leading official gold buyer among central banks

Access: Decisions, the Inflation Report, statistics and the Warsaw Money Centre are the public routes via nbp.pl (Polish and English)

Website: nbp.pl · Contact: Contact pages via nbp.pl · Phone: Not captured from the official site in sources checked for this pass · HQ: ul. Świętokrzyska 11/21, 00-919 Warsaw (head office)

Factual treatment: in October 2026 a Sejm committee recommended that the Governor face a State Tribunal over accusations concerning 2020–21 asset purchases and the Bank's conduct; the Governor denies the accusations and the Bank calls them 'completely unfounded' (Reuters, 9 and 20 October 2026). No finding is stated here.

17. ČESKÁ NÁRODNÍ BANKA (CNB) — PRAGUE, CZECHIA

Founded 1993 · Central bank · Europe — Czechia

Leadership: Aleš Michl, Governor (since 1 July 2022; six-year term)

Deputy / vice leadership: Two Deputy Governors: Eva Zamrazilová and Jan Frait (Bank Board composition per the CNB's published board records)

Board / committee: Bank Board: 7 members

Appointment & term: The Governor, Deputy Governors and board members are appointed by the President of the Czech Republic for six-year terms, with a maximum of two terms in the same office

Mandate: Under the Constitution and the CNB Act, the primary objective is price stability — an inflation target of 2 percent — and, without prejudice to it, support for the government's general economic policy; the CNB also cares for financial stability and supervises the financial market.

Policy instruments: The two-week repo rate (the key policy rate); the CNB has historically used the exchange rate as an instrument (the 2013–17 koruna floor) and intervened in 2022; its reserve portfolio is large relative to GDP and its composition — including an announced analysis of new asset classes — is debated publicly by board members; no QE programme is operated

What it does: Sets the repo rate eight times a year; supervises banks, insurers and capital markets in one house; issues koruna notes and coins; manages one of the world's largest reserve portfolios relative to the economy; runs the CERTIS payment system.

Functions: Monetary policy; integrated financial supervision; currency issue; reserve management; payment systems (CERTIS); statistics

Balance sheet / reserves: International reserves and the balance sheet are published monthly on cnb.cz (reserves are among the largest in the world relative to GDP); a single dated figure is not fixed here; see Sources

Offices: Head office in Prague (Na Příkopě 28); branches and offices in Brno, Ostrava, Plzeň, Hradec Králové, Ústí nad Labem and České Budějovice · Annual report: Annual Report published each spring; Monetary Policy Report quarterly; Financial Stability Report annually with updates

Distinctiveness: A central bank that is simultaneously the whole financial supervisor, holds reserves on a scale few peers match relative to GDP, and in 2025–26 debated reserve-asset diversification — including Bitcoin — in public, with board members on both sides of the question

Access: Decisions, board minutes and votes, reports, the ARAD statistics database and the CNB Visitor Centre in Prague are the public routes via cnb.cz (Czech and English)

Website: cnb.cz · Contact: Contact centre and media pages via cnb.cz · Phone: +420 224 411 111 (CNB contact centre, per the CNB's published releases) · HQ: Na Příkopě 28, 115 03 Prague 1 (head office)

Board composition (Michl, Zamrazilová, Frait, Holub, Kubelková, Kubíček, Procházka, with Jakub Seidler appearing in later board records) is from the CNB's own published board decisions; the possible replacement of one member between records is flagged rather than resolved here.

18. MAGYAR NEMZETI BANK (MNB) — BUDAPEST, HUNGARY

Founded 1924 · Central bank · Europe — Hungary

Leadership: Mihály Varga, Governor (took office in March 2025 for a six-year term, succeeding György Matolcsy; confirmed in office throughout 2026 in the Bank's releases)

Deputy / vice leadership: Deputy Governors serve on the Monetary Council; the deputy holding office at press time was not confirmed name-by-name in the sources checked for this pass and is flagged in the README

Board / committee: Monetary Council: the Governor, Deputy Governors and external members appointed under the MNB Act (membership is published on mnb.hu)

Appointment & term: The Governor is appointed by the President of the Republic on the Prime Minister's proposal, after a parliamentary committee hearing, for a six-year term

Mandate: Under the MNB Act, the primary objective is to achieve and maintain price stability — a 3 percent inflation target with a ±1 point tolerance band — without prejudice to which the Bank supports the government's economic policy and is responsible for financial stability and supervision.

Policy instruments: The base rate (6.25 percent in early 2026 after a February cut, per the Bank's decision reporting; further small cuts followed in summer 2026 per MNI's meeting review) plus overnight deposit/lending corridor; targeted lending schemes of the 2010s (Funding for Growth) have been wound down; no QE programme is operated

What it does: Sets the base rate monthly through the Monetary Council; supervises banks, insurers and funds; issues the forint; operates the VIBER RTGS and instant-payment (AFR) systems; publishes the quarterly Inflation Report.

Functions: Monetary policy; integrated supervision; currency issue; payment systems; reserve management; statistics; consumer protection in finance

Balance sheet / reserves: International reserves and the balance sheet are published monthly on mnb.hu; a single dated figure is not fixed here; see Sources

Offices: Head office in Budapest (Szabadság tér); the MNB's Money Museum and visitor centre is in the former Postapalota building at Krisztina körút; regional representation through its offices in Hungary · Annual report: Annual Report published each spring; Inflation Report quarterly (March, June, September, December)

Distinctiveness: A governor who arrived from the finance ministry in 2025 and made central-bank independence his confirmation theme — and an integrated supervisor whose asset-management foundations of the previous era remain a matter of public record and audit reporting (noted factually, without embellishment)

Access: Decisions, the Inflation Report, statistics and the Budapest Money Museum are the public routes via mnb.hu (Hungarian and English)

Website: mnb.hu · Contact: Contact pages via mnb.hu · Phone: Not captured from the official site in sources checked for this pass · HQ: Szabadság tér 8–9, 1054 Budapest (head office)

Varga's March 2025 start (not 2026, as one secondary source states) is fixed from the Bank's own January 2026 release describing 'the MNB's new leadership' year in review and his confirmation-hearing reporting.

19. CENTRAL BANK OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION (BANK OF RUSSIA) — MOSCOW, RUSSIA

Founded 1990 · Central bank (factual entry) · Europe — Russia

Leadership: Elvira Nabiullina, Chair (Governor) (in office since June 2013; her current term runs to 2027 on the appointment record)

Deputy / vice leadership: First Deputy Chairs serve under the Chair; the names holding those offices at press time were not confirmed against cbr.ru in the sources checked for this pass and are flagged in the README

Board / committee: Board of Directors: 15 members including the Chair (under the federal law on the Central Bank)

Appointment & term: The Chair is appointed by the State Duma on the nomination of the President of the Russian Federation for a five-year term; board members are appointed by the Duma on the Chair's nomination in agreement with the President

Mandate: Under the Constitution and the federal law on the Bank of Russia: to protect and ensure the stability of the ruble, with an inflation target of 4 percent; to develop the banking system and the national payment system, and to ensure financial-market stability as the mega-regulator.

Policy instruments: The key rate (held at 14 percent in September 2026 after a cutting cycle from a 21 percent peak, per Reuters reporting of the Bank's decisions); reserve requirements; the digital ruble, whose mass rollout began on the legislated timetable in 2026; foreign-exchange operations under the budget rule for the National Wealth Fund

What it does: Sets the key rate; supervises banks and the whole financial market; issues ruble notes and the digital ruble (a third form of the currency, piloted from 2023 and rolled out to systemically important banks and large retailers from 1 September 2026); operates the Faster Payments System and the Mir card scheme's infrastructure.

Functions: Monetary policy; mega-regulation and supervision; currency issue including the digital ruble; payment systems; reserve management (a substantial share held in gold and yuan-denominated assets on the Bank's reporting); statistics

Balance sheet / reserves: International reserves are published weekly on cbr.ru; the Bank reports the total but, since 2022, not the full currency composition — a disclosure limit printed here rather than filled from third-party estimates

Offices: Head office in Moscow (Neglinnaya 12); territorial branches across Russia's regions; the Bank of Russia Museum in Moscow · Annual report: Annual Report presented to the State Duma each spring; Monetary Policy Report quarterly; the Guidelines for monetary policy are published each autumn

Distinctiveness: The guide's clearest case of a central bank operating under comprehensive external sanctions while running a full CBDC rollout — facts stated plainly; its reserves disclosure has been partial since 2022, which this entry records rather than estimates around

Access: Decisions, the Monetary Policy Report, statistics and its museum are the public routes via cbr.ru (Russian, with an English section)

Website: cbr.ru · Contact: Contact and reception pages via cbr.ru · Phone: Not captured from the official site in sources checked for this pass · HQ: 12 Neglinnaya Street, 107016 Moscow (head office)

Factual treatment throughout: rate path and digital-ruble timetable are from Reuters reporting and the Bank's statements as syndicated; no position is taken on sanctions or policy.

20. CENTRAL BANK OF THE REPUBLIC OF TÜRKIYE (CBRT) — ANKARA, TÜRKIYE

Founded 1930 · Central bank (factual entry) · Europe / West Asia — Türkiye

Leadership: Fatih Karahan, Governor (appointed 3 February 2024, on official biography at tcmb.gov.tr)

Deputy / vice leadership: Deputy Governors include Hatice Karahan and Osman Cevdet Akçay (named in the Bank's and wire reporting of 2025–26 proceedings)

Board / committee: Monetary Policy Committee: 7 members (Governor, the four Deputy Governors, one Board member and one member appointed on the Governor's recommendation under the CBRT law)

Appointment & term: The Governor is appointed by the President of the Republic for a five-year term under the CBRT law as amended; Deputy Governors are likewise presidentially appointed

Mandate: Under the CBRT law, the primary objective is to achieve and maintain price stability — an inflation target of 5 percent set jointly with the government — supporting growth and employment policies insofar as they do not conflict with price stability.

Policy instruments: The one-week repo rate (the policy rate); interest-rate corridor (overnight lending/borrowing) and late-liquidity window; reserve requirements and liraisation measures; no QE programme is operated; the Bank publishes an Inflation Report with interim targets under its disinflation programme

What it does: Sets the policy rate monthly; issues lira banknotes; manages reserves; operates payment systems (FAST instant payments); compiles statistics; its head office moved functions progressively to the Istanbul Financial Center while the legal seat remains Ankara.

Functions: Monetary policy; currency issue; payment systems; reserve management; financial-stability monitoring (bank supervision sits with the BRSA); statistics

Balance sheet / reserves: Gross reserves are published weekly in the CBRT's money and banking statistics on tcmb.gov.tr; a single dated figure is not fixed here because the release is weekly and net-reserve calculations vary by definition — a definitional limit printed rather than bridged

Offices: Head office in Ankara (Hacı Bayram, İstiklal Caddesi); a large Istanbul office at the Istanbul Financial Center; branches in major cities and representative offices abroad (including Frankfurt, London, New York and Beijing on the Bank's listing) · Annual report: Annual Report published each spring; Inflation Report quarterly (February, May, August, November)

Distinctiveness: Five governors in five years preceded the current appointment (2019–24) — a turnover record in this guide — followed by a published disinflation programme under a governor recruited from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York via Amazon's economics team

Access: Decisions, the Inflation Report, EVDS data service and its Ankara/Istanbul publications are the public routes via tcmb.gov.tr (Turkish and English)

Website: tcmb.gov.tr · Contact: Contact pages via tcmb.gov.tr · Phone: Not captured from the official site in sources checked for this pass · HQ: Hacı Bayram Mahallesi, İstiklal Caddesi No. 10, 06050 Ulus, Ankara (head office)

Factual treatment: the governor's appointment date and biography are from the CBRT's own site; the tight-policy stance is quoted from his 2026 Inflation Report briefing.

21. NATIONAL BANK OF UKRAINE (NBU) — KYIV, UKRAINE

Founded 1991 · Central bank (factual entry) · Europe — Ukraine

Leadership: Andriy Pyshnyy, Governor (in office since October 2022; led the NBU delegation at the IMF–World Bank Annual Meetings in Bangkok, 13–17 October 2026) — see Notes on a resignation report dated 21 October 2026

Deputy / vice leadership: Serhiy Nikolaychuk, First Deputy Governor (appointed August 2025); Deputy Governors include Volodymyr Lepushynskyi (from 8 December 2025), Yuriy Heletiy, Yaroslav Matuzka, Dmytro Oliinyk and Oleksii Shaban (MPC attendance record, January 2026)

Board / committee: Board: 7 members. Monetary Policy Committee: 11 members (Board plus department directors, per the NBU's January 2026 MPC record)

Appointment & term: The Governor is appointed by the Verkhovna Rada on the President's nomination for a seven-year term; Deputy Governors are appointed by the NBU Council on the Governor's nomination for seven-year terms

Mandate: Under the Constitution and the NBU law, the priority objective is price stability — an inflation target of 5 percent — alongside financial stability and support for sustainable economic growth insofar as consistent with the first two.

Policy instruments: The key policy rate; foreign-exchange interventions under managed flexibility of the hryvnia; since 2022, capital-flow and cash measures under martial law described in the Bank's own releases; no QE — wartime deficit financing by the Bank in 2022 was discontinued and is a matter of published record

What it does: Sets the policy rate eight times a year; issues the hryvnia; supervises banks; runs the SEP payment system; manages reserves rebuilt with international support; publishes the quarterly Inflation Report.

Functions: Monetary policy; currency issue; banking supervision; payment systems; reserve management; statistics; financial-stability work under wartime conditions

Balance sheet / reserves: International reserves are published monthly on bank.gov.ua; a single dated figure is not fixed here; the Bank reported reserve levels sustained by partner financing through 2026 in its releases

Offices: Head office in Kyiv (Instytutska 9); regional presence through its offices and the NBU's cash centres; the Money Museum is in Kyiv · Annual report: Annual Report published each year; Inflation Report quarterly (January, April, July, October)

Distinctiveness: A central bank running an inflation-targeting regime through a full-scale war — and, at press time, the guide's one live leadership uncertainty, recorded in Notes exactly as reported and no further

Access: Decisions, MPC summaries, the Inflation Report and statistics are free on bank.gov.ua (Ukrainian and English); the Money Museum in Kyiv is the public route in normal times

Website: bank.gov.ua · Contact: Contact pages via bank.gov.ua · Phone: Not captured from the official site in sources checked for this pass · HQ: 9 Instytutska Street, 01601 Kyiv (head office)

UNCONFIRMED AT PRESS TIME: on 21 October 2026 media reports (Delo.ua, via TodayPress) stated that Governor Pyshnyy had submitted a resignation for health reasons, effective on his return from Bangkok, and named possible successors. The NBU had issued no confirmation in sources checked by 22 October; the Governor is therefore printed in office, with the report flagged here and in the README — not resolved either way.

ASIA-PACIFIC

22. BANK OF JAPAN (BOJ) — TOKYO, JAPAN

Founded 1882 · Central bank · Asia — Japan

Leadership: Kazuo Ueda, Governor (since 9 April 2023; five-year term; confirmed in office throughout October 2026 in the Bank's and Reuters' records)

Deputy / vice leadership: Two Deputy Governors: Ryozo Himino and Shinichi Uchida (Uchida delivered the Governor's speech in his stead at an October 2026 meeting, per Reuters)

Board / committee: Policy Board: 9 members (Governor, two Deputy Governors and six further members)

Appointment & term: The Governor, Deputy Governors and Policy Board members are appointed by the Cabinet with the consent of both houses of the Diet for five-year terms, renewable

Mandate: Under the Bank of Japan Act, monetary policy aims at price stability — defined by the Bank as 2 percent CPI inflation — thereby contributing to the sound development of the national economy; the Bank also ensures the smooth settlement of funds and financial-system stability.

Policy instruments: The short-term policy interest rate (the uncollateralised overnight call rate target) — raised to 1.25 percent in September 2026, a 31-year high, per Reuters; the Bank ended its negative-rate, yield-curve-control and large-scale ETF/J-REIT purchase programmes in March 2024, and government-bond purchases continue on a published tapering schedule

What it does: Sets the policy rate at eight Monetary Policy Meetings a year; issues yen banknotes; operates the BOJ-NET settlement system; holds and manages reserves jointly with the Ministry of Finance (the Bank conducts intervention as the Ministry's agent); publishes the quarterly Outlook Report and the Tankan survey.

Functions: Monetary policy; currency issue; settlement systems (BOJ-NET); financial-system stability and on-site examination; statistics (Tankan, money stock); international finance operations

Balance sheet / reserves: Total assets are published in the Bank's accounts every ten days and in its financial statements semi-annually on boj.or.jp; government-bond holdings remain the dominant asset after the QE era — a single dated figure is not fixed here; see Sources

Offices: Head office in Tokyo (Nihonbashi); 32 branches and 12 local offices across Japan; overseas representative offices including New York, London and Frankfurt · Annual report: Annual Review published each summer; Outlook Report quarterly (January, April, July, October); financial statements semi-annually

Distinctiveness: The inventor of large-scale quantitative easing (2001) and of yield-curve control (2016), now the guide's most closely watched normalisation: a first-generation academic governor raising rates to levels not seen in three decades

Access: Decisions, minutes, the Outlook Report, Tankan and data are free on boj.or.jp (Japanese and English); the Bank's Currency Museum in Tokyo is open to the public; the Old Head Office building tours are bookable

Website: boj.or.jp · Contact: Contact and public-relations pages via boj.or.jp · Phone: Not captured from the official site in sources checked for this pass · HQ: 2-1-1 Nihonbashi-Hongokucho, Chuo-ku, Tokyo (head office)

Rate path (September 2026 increase to 1.25 percent) and the Governor's October 2026 statements are from Reuters reporting of the Bank's meetings and speeches.

23. PEOPLE'S BANK OF CHINA (PBOC) — BEIJING, CHINA

Founded 1948 · Central bank (factual entry) · Asia — China

Leadership: Pan Gongsheng, Governor (since July 2023; also party secretary of the Bank and administrator of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange; confirmed in office at the October 2026 Financial Street Forum and G20 meetings)

Deputy / vice leadership: Deputy Governors serve under the Governor; SAFE's administrator role is held by the Governor himself. Individual deputy names were not re-verified against pbc.gov.cn in the sources checked for this pass and are flagged in the README

Board / committee: No policy board in the Western sense: decisions rest with the Governor under State Council leadership, advised by the Monetary Policy Committee (membership published by the Bank; 19 members in its recent published composition — not re-verified in this pass)

Appointment & term: The Governor is nominated by the Premier and appointed by decision of the National People's Congress (or its Standing Committee), formally issued by the President of the People's Republic of China; no fixed statutory term is published in the sources checked

Mandate: Under the PBOC Law, the objective of monetary policy is to maintain the stability of the value of the currency and thereby promote economic growth; the Bank also safeguards financial stability and holds and manages the state's foreign-exchange and gold reserves.

Policy instruments: The seven-day reverse-repo rate as the principal policy rate — with the Governor announcing in October 2026 that the Bank will study moving its main open-market tenor to overnight, making the overnight repo rate the primary policy rate; the loan prime rate (LPR) as the lending benchmark; the reserve-requirement ratio (RRR); the medium-term lending facility; a managed float for the renminbi with a daily central parity. Targeted relending facilities, not broad QE, are its structural tool

What it does: Conducts open-market operations daily; sets the renminbi's daily central parity; issues the currency (notes printed by China Banknote Printing and Minting); manages the world's largest foreign-exchange reserves through SAFE; operates the CIPS cross-border payment system and the high-value payment system; issues government bonds as agent.

Functions: Monetary policy; currency issue; foreign-exchange management (SAFE); reserve management; payment and settlement systems (HVPS, CIPS); treasury services; statistics; anti-money-laundering (moved to the Bank's remit in the 2023 reforms)

Balance sheet / reserves: Foreign-exchange reserves: the world's largest, reported monthly by SAFE (in the USD 3.2–3.4 trillion range through 2025–26 releases) — the monthly SAFE release, not a fixed figure here, is the source of record; the Bank's own balance sheet is published in its statistical releases

Offices: Head office in Beijing (Fuxing Men Nei Dajie); a tiered branch system reorganised in 2023 into provincial-level branches and municipal sub-branches; overseas representation through SAFE and its investment offices · Annual report: Annual Report and the quarterly Monetary Policy Report published on pbc.gov.cn; the Governor's Lujiazui Forum and Financial Street Forum speeches are the year's set-piece policy statements

Distinctiveness: The largest balance sheet of reserves in the world and the only central bank in this guide whose 2026 headline instrument news was a change in the tenor of its own policy rate — announced by the Governor at the Financial Street Forum in October 2026

Access: Reports, statistics and the Governor's speeches are published on pbc.gov.cn (Chinese, with core releases in English); the China Finance and China Financial Abstracts journals are its published research routes

Website: pbc.gov.cn · Contact: Contact and governor's-mailbox channels via pbc.gov.cn · Phone: Not captured from the official site in sources checked for this pass · HQ: 32 Chengfang Street, Xicheng District, Beijing (head office; published address of the Bank's Fuxing Men complex is used in its correspondence)

Factual treatment throughout: policy description is drawn from the Governor's own 2026 statements (Lujiazui Forum, June 2026; Financial Street Forum, October 2026) and the PBOC Law's mandate wording.

24. RESERVE BANK OF INDIA (RBI) — MUMBAI, INDIA

Founded 1935 · Central bank · Asia — India

Leadership: Sanjay Malhotra, Governor (since 11 December 2024; three-year term; the 26th Governor on the Bank's numbering in reference sources)

Deputy / vice leadership: Four Deputy Governors, including T. Rabi Sankar, Swaminathan J., Poonam Gupta and S. C. Murmu (named together in the Bank's 2026 meeting records)

Board / committee: MPC: 6 members (Governor as chair, the Deputy Governor for monetary policy, one RBI officer, and three external members appointed by the government). Central Board: the Governor, Deputy Governors, ten government-nominated directors and government and local-board representatives under the RBI Act

Appointment & term: The Governor and Deputy Governors are appointed by the Government of India (Appointments Committee of the Cabinet) for terms of up to five years — in practice three years initially for the Governor — and are eligible for reappointment; external MPC members serve four-year non-renewable terms

Mandate: Under the amended RBI Act, the primary objective of monetary policy is to maintain price stability while keeping in mind the objective of growth — a flexible inflation target of 4 percent CPI with a ±2 percent tolerance band, set by the government in consultation with the Bank (renewed to 2026 and under review thereafter).

Policy instruments: The repo rate under the Liquidity Adjustment Facility (the policy rate), with the standing deposit facility as the corridor floor and the marginal standing facility as its ceiling; open-market operations and government-securities purchases have been used as liquidity tools (the 2021 G-SAP was a QE-style programme, since concluded); the cash reserve ratio is the quantity tool

What it does: Sets the repo rate six times a year through the MPC; issues rupee currency; regulates and supervises banks and NBFCs; operates NEFT/RTGS and oversees UPI (run by NPCI); manages reserves and the government's debt jointly with the finance ministry's framework.

Functions: Monetary policy; banking and NBFC regulation and supervision; currency issue; payment systems; reserve and debt management; financial inclusion and consumer protection; statistics

Balance sheet / reserves: Foreign-exchange reserves are published weekly in the RBI's Weekly Statistical Supplement on rbi.org.in (India's reserves are among the world's ten largest); a single dated figure is not fixed here because the supplement is weekly

Offices: Central office in Mumbai (Shahid Bhagat Singh Road, Fort); 19 regional offices and sub-offices across India; the RBI Monetary Museum is in Mumbai · Annual report: Annual Report published each August/September; the Monetary Policy Report twice yearly (April and October) with MPC resolutions and minutes for each meeting

Distinctiveness: A statutory inflation-targeting committee grafted in 2016 onto a 1935 institution that is simultaneously the banking supervisor, the government's debt manager and the operator behind the world's highest-volume instant-payment ecosystem

Access: MPC resolutions, minutes, the Weekly Statistical Supplement, reports and a full database (DBIE) are free on rbi.org.in; the Monetary Museum in Mumbai is open to the public

Website: rbi.org.in · Contact: Contact and grievance channels (including the RBI Integrated Ombudsman route) via rbi.org.in · Phone: Not captured from the official site in sources checked for this pass · HQ: Shahid Bhagat Singh Road, Fort, Mumbai 400001 (central office)

Malhotra's governorship and the four deputy governors are confirmed by the Bank's 2026 meeting records and BIS speech records (May 2026 panel).

25. BANK OF KOREA (BOK) — SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA

Founded 1950 · Central bank · Asia — South Korea

Leadership: Hyun Song Shin, Governor (since 21 April 2026, succeeding Rhee Chang-yong, whose four-year term ended 20 April 2026; Shin, formerly the BIS's economic adviser and head of research, was the expected successor in the Bank's April 2026 meeting reporting and is confirmed in office in the National Assembly audit records of October 2026)

Deputy / vice leadership: The Senior Deputy Governor is an ex officio Board member; Yoo Sang-dae held the office until his term expired in August 2026 — his successor was not confirmed in the sources checked for this pass and is flagged in the README

Board / committee: Monetary Policy Board: 7 members

Appointment & term: The Governor is appointed by the President of the Republic after a National Assembly confirmation hearing for a four-year term, renewable once; Board members serve four-year terms on the recommendation of designated institutions

Mandate: Under the Bank of Korea Act, the primary objective is price stability — an inflation target of 2 percent — pursued with attention to financial stability, which the Act names as a consideration in conducting monetary policy.

Policy instruments: The Base Rate (a seven-day repo rate) — held at 2.50 percent through the first half of 2026 in the Bank's decisions; open-market operations in Monetary Stabilization Bonds (issued by the Bank itself); no QE programme is operated; the Bank publishes members' forward views (the 'dot' style three- and six-month guidance reported in its meetings)

What it does: Sets the Base Rate at scheduled Board meetings; issues won banknotes; operates the BOK-Wire+ payment system; manages reserves; supervises payment systems and shares financial supervision with the FSC/FSS; publishes the biannual Monetary Policy Report to the National Assembly.

Functions: Monetary policy; currency issue; payment systems; reserve management; statistics; financial-stability reporting; research

Balance sheet / reserves: Foreign reserves are published monthly on bok.or.kr (Korea's reserves are among the world's ten largest); a single dated figure is not fixed here; see Sources

Offices: Head office in Seoul (Namdaemun-ro, Jung-gu); 16 regional branches across Korea; overseas representative offices including New York, London, Frankfurt, Tokyo and Beijing · Annual report: Annual Report presented each spring; Monetary Policy Report submitted to the National Assembly twice a year; the Bank's Money Museum is in its Seoul head office

Distinctiveness: A 2026 changing of the guard to a governor recruited from the Bank for International Settlements' research helm — and a board that publishes members' individual rate views for the meetings ahead, a guidance practice unique in this guide

Access: Decisions, minutes, the Monetary Policy Report and ECOS statistics are free on bok.or.kr (Korean and English); the BOK Money Museum in Seoul is open to the public

Website: bok.or.kr · Contact: Contact pages via bok.or.kr (English portal) · Phone: Not captured from the official site in sources checked for this pass · HQ: 39 Namdaemun-ro, Jung-gu, Seoul (head office)

The Shin succession rests on three converging sources checked: the April 2026 ING meeting note naming Shin Hyunsong as likely successor, the reference record of Rhee's term ending 20 April 2026 with Shin as successor, and October 2026 audit reporting naming 'Bank of Korea Gov. Hyun Song Shin' in office.

26. RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA (RBA) — SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA

Founded 1960 · Central bank · Oceania — Australia

Leadership: Michele Bullock, Governor (since 18 September 2023; seven-year term; the Bank's ninth Governor and its first woman in the office)

Deputy / vice leadership: Andrew Hauser, Deputy Governor (since February 2024; named with the Governor in the Bank's February 2026 parliamentary-hearing record)

Board / committee: Monetary Policy Board: 9 members. Governance Board: the Governor as chair, the Deputy Governor, and external members (Carol Schwartz serves as Governance Board Deputy Chair to February 2027 on the appointment instrument)

Appointment & term: The Governor and Deputy Governor are appointed by the Governor-General on the Treasurer's recommendation (following consultation with the Opposition) for terms of up to seven years; external board members serve five-year terms

Mandate: Under the Reserve Bank Act and the 2023 Statement on the Conduct of Monetary Policy with the government: stability of the currency, maintenance of full employment, and the economic prosperity and welfare of the people of Australia — operationalised as flexible medium-term inflation targeting of 2–3 percent.

Policy instruments: The cash rate target (the rate on overnight exchange-settlement balances); the Bank bought government bonds for yield-curve control and QE in 2020–22, since unwound by maturity runoff — no reinvestment; in 2026 the Bank's stance turned to tightening against renewed inflation on its published statements (a rate rise was reported in September 2026 coverage; the level is stated in meeting records rather than fixed here)

What it does: Sets the cash rate at eight Board meetings a year, publishing minutes and (since 2024) unattributed votes; issues Australia's polymer banknotes (printed by its Note Printing Australia subsidiary); operates the payments system including the New Payments Platform oversight; provides banking services to the Commonwealth.

Functions: Monetary policy; currency issue; payment-system oversight and settlement (RITS); reserve management; government banking; financial-stability review with APRA/ASIC (supervision is APRA's)

Balance sheet / reserves: Balance-sheet and reserves data are published in the Bank's annual report and statistical releases on rba.gov.au; a single dated figure is not fixed here; see Sources

Offices: Head office in Sydney (65 Martin Place); offices in Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide and Canberra; overseas offices in London, New York and Beijing; the Reserve Bank Museum is in Sydney · Annual report: Annual Report tabled each October; Statement on Monetary Policy quarterly (February, May, August, November); Financial Stability Review twice yearly

Distinctiveness: The only central bank in this guide split by statute into separate monetary-policy and governance boards (2025), and the issuer of the world's first full polymer banknote series — the technology half this guide's older banks now use

Access: Decisions, minutes, the Statement on Monetary Policy, data and the Museum in Martin Place are the public routes via rba.gov.au; its economics education programme is a standing entry route for schools

Website: rba.gov.au · Contact: Contact and media pages via rba.gov.au · Phone: Not captured from the official site in sources checked for this pass · HQ: 65 Martin Place, Sydney NSW 2000 (head office)

Bullock's appointment instrument (seven-year term from 18 September 2023) and the 2025 governance-board appointments are from the Treasurer's release and the federal register instrument.

27. RESERVE BANK OF NEW ZEALAND (RBNZ) — TE PŪTEA MATUA — WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND

Founded 1934 · Central bank · Oceania — New Zealand

Leadership: Anna Breman, Governor (since 1 December 2025; term to 30 November 2030; recruited from the Sveriges Riksbank, where she was First Deputy Governor — see the Riksbank entry)

Deputy / vice leadership: Deputy Governors serve under the Governor; the names holding those offices at press time were not confirmed against rbnz.govt.nz in the sources checked for this pass and are flagged in the README. Board Chair: Rodger Finlay (named in the Bank's September 2026 release)

Board / committee: Monetary Policy Committee: 7 members (three internal, four external under the statutory composition)

Appointment & term: The Governor is appointed by the Governor-General on the Minister of Finance's recommendation, on the Board's nomination, for a five-year term, renewable

Mandate: Under the Reserve Bank Act and the MPC Remit issued by the Minister of Finance: achieve and maintain future annual CPI inflation between 1 and 3 percent over the medium term, focusing on keeping future inflation near the 2 percent mid-point; the Bank also promotes financial stability as prudential supervisor.

Policy instruments: The Official Cash Rate (OCR) — raised to 2.75 percent at the September 2026 meeting, with the next decision on 28 October 2026; the Bank's large-scale asset purchase programme (2020–22) was unwound through sales back to the Treasury completed earlier in the decade; no QE is currently operated

What it does: Sets the OCR seven times a year; issues New Zealand's banknotes and coins; supervises banks, insurers and NBDTs prudentially; operates the ESAS settlement system; publishes the quarterly Monetary Policy Statement.

Functions: Monetary policy; prudential supervision; currency issue; payment systems; reserve management; statistics; macroprudential policy (LVR and DTI tools)

Balance sheet / reserves: Reserves and the balance sheet are published in the Bank's annual report and monthly statistical releases on rbnz.govt.nz; a single dated figure is not fixed here; see Sources

Offices: Head office in Wellington (2 The Terrace); a cash and office presence in Auckland; no branch network · Annual report: Annual Report tabled each autumn; Monetary Policy Statement quarterly (February, May, August, November); Financial Stability Report twice yearly

Distinctiveness: The birthplace of inflation targeting (1990) and, in 2025, the guide's most international appointment: a Swedish deputy governor recruited to the governorship across two hemispheres

Access: Decisions, the Monetary Policy Statement, data and its Wellington museum collection (the Reserve Bank Museum, currently by arrangement) are the public routes via rbnz.govt.nz; the Bank's regional-visit programme took the Governor to Dunedin in September 2026

Website: rbnz.govt.nz · Contact: Contact pages via rbnz.govt.nz · Phone: Not captured from the official site in sources checked for this pass · HQ: 2 The Terrace, Wellington 6140 (head office)

Breman's appointment dates and term are from the appointment record; her September 2026 Dunedin remarks and the OCR level are from Reuters reporting of the Bank's statement.

28. MONETARY AUTHORITY OF SINGAPORE (MAS) — SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE

Founded 1971 · Monetary authority · Asia — Singapore

Leadership: Chia Der Jiun, Managing Director (since 1 January 2024; reappointed as Managing Director and Board member for two further years, 1 June 2026 to 31 May 2028)

Deputy / vice leadership: Deputy Managing Directors serve under the Managing Director in MAS's published structure (financial supervision, economic policy, markets and development portfolios); individual names were not captured in the sources checked for this pass and are flagged in the README

Board / committee: Board of Directors: membership published by MAS (the Chairman, the Managing Director, and directors including the Attorney-General; Ong Pang Thye joined the Board 1 June 2026 for a three-year term)

Appointment & term: The Chairman and directors are appointed by the President of Singapore on the Cabinet's advice for terms of up to three years; the Managing Director is appointed by the Board with presidential concurrence for the term set at appointment

Mandate: Under the MAS Act: to maintain price stability conducive to sustainable growth (pursued through the exchange rate), to promote a sound and progressive financial sector, and to act as banker to and financial agent of the government. MAS states its objective as sustained, non-inflationary economic growth.

Policy instruments: No policy interest rate: monetary policy is conducted through the Singapore dollar nominal effective exchange rate (S$NEER) policy band — its slope, width and centre are adjusted at (usually) twice-yearly and, since 2022, additional reviews; domestic rates follow global conditions through the framework. No QE is operated

What it does: Manages the exchange-rate-centred policy framework; issues Singapore currency (notes and coins); supervises banks, insurers, capital markets and payment services as the integrated regulator; manages the official foreign reserves (with GIC investing reserves above MAS's requirements for government); runs the MAS Electronic Payment System (MEPS+).

Functions: Monetary policy (exchange-rate based); integrated financial supervision; currency issue; reserve management; payment systems; financial-centre development; government banking

Balance sheet / reserves: Official foreign reserves are published monthly on mas.gov.sg (Singapore's reserves are among the world's ten largest); a single dated figure is not fixed here because the release is monthly

Offices: Head office in Singapore (MAS Building, 10 Shenton Way); representative offices in Beijing, London, New York, Shanghai, Mumbai and Abu Dhabi on its published network · Annual report: Annual Report for the financial year to 31 March, presented at a media conference each July (the FY2025/26 report was released 28 July 2026); Macroeconomic Review twice yearly

Distinctiveness: The only major central bank in this guide that targets its exchange rate rather than an interest rate — and ranks its chairman, a deputy prime minister, above its managing director in form, a governance shape no peer here shares

Access: Policy statements, the Macroeconomic Review, statistics and consultation papers are free on mas.gov.sg; the Singapore Financial District's MAS Gallery and its fintech festival (SFF) are public entry routes

Website: mas.gov.sg · Contact: Contact and feedback channels via mas.gov.sg · Phone: (65) 6225-5577 (MAS Building, per the Authority's published releases) · HQ: 10 Shenton Way, MAS Building, Singapore 079117

Board reappointments of June 2026 (Gan as Chairman; Chia to May 2028) are from MAS's own release as reported by Singapore Business Review and Fintech News Singapore.

29. HONG KONG MONETARY AUTHORITY (HKMA) — HONG KONG, CHINA (HONG KONG SAR)

Founded 1993 · Monetary authority · Asia — Hong Kong SAR, China

Leadership: Eddie Yue, Chief Executive (since 1 October 2019; reappointed for a second term from October 2024; confirmed in office in the Authority's October 2026 releases)

Deputy / vice leadership: Deputy Chief Executives include Arthur Yuen (banking supervision, in the role since 2010) and Darryl Chan (per the Authority's Chief Executive's Committee listing and its 2026 stablecoin-licensing releases); a third deputy portfolio (monetary management) is listed in the Authority's committee composition

Board / committee: No policy board: monetary policy is rule-based under the currency board; governance runs through the Chief Executive's Committee and the Exchange Fund Advisory Committee (chaired by the Financial Secretary)

Appointment & term: The Chief Executive is appointed by the Financial Secretary of the Hong Kong SAR Government for a five-year term (Yue's second term runs from 1 October 2024)

Mandate: Under the Exchange Fund Ordinance: to maintain the stability of the Hong Kong dollar through the Linked Exchange Rate System (a convertibility zone of 7.75–7.85 per U.S. dollar), and to promote the stability and integrity of the financial system, including the banking system.

Policy instruments: The currency board itself: the Base Rate is set by formula (the higher of a U.S. federal funds-linked measure or an average of HIBORs) and moves with Federal Reserve policy, not by discretion; Exchange Fund Bills and Notes manage liquidity; the HKMA issued the first local stablecoin licences under its 2025 regime in 2026 (a supervisory, not monetary, instrument)

What it does: Defends the convertibility undertakings at both ends of the 7.75–7.85 zone; issues certificates of indebtedness backing banknotes printed for the three note-issuing banks; supervises Hong Kong banks; manages the Exchange Fund; operates the RTGS and the CMU bond-clearing system; develops the offshore renminbi market.

Functions: Currency-board monetary operations; banking supervision; reserve (Exchange Fund) management; payment and clearing systems; financial-market development; resolution authority

Balance sheet / reserves: The Exchange Fund's abridged balance sheet is published monthly on hkma.gov.hk (the Fund's assets are among the largest reserve portfolios in the world relative to the economy); a single dated figure is not fixed here because the statement is monthly

Offices: Head office in Hong Kong (Two International Finance Centre, Central); representative offices in London, New York and Beijing on its published network · Annual report: Annual Report published each April; the Half-Yearly Monetary and Financial Stability Report in March and September

Distinctiveness: A central bank that has deliberately given up discretion: its base rate is a formula, its banknotes are printed by commercial banks against its certificates, and its 2026 frontier work is licensing stablecoin issuers inside a currency-board economy

Access: Statistics, the Annual Report, the HKMA's Information Centre and library (55/F, Two IFC) and its public lectures are the entry routes via hkma.gov.hk (English and Chinese)

Website: hkma.gov.hk · Contact: Contact and public-enquiry channels via hkma.gov.hk · Phone: Not captured from the official site in sources checked for this pass · HQ: 55/F, Two International Finance Centre, 8 Finance Street, Central, Hong Kong (head office)

Yue's and Yuen's offices and Darryl Chan's deputy role are from the HKMA's own Chief Executive's Committee page and its 2026 releases, checked October 2026.

30. BANK OF THAILAND (BOT) — BANGKOK, THAILAND

Founded 1942 · Central bank · Asia — Thailand

Leadership: Vitai Ratanakorn, Governor (since 1 October 2025; five-year term; the Bank's 22nd Governor; formerly President of the Government Savings Bank; represented Thailand at the October 2026 IMF meetings in Bangkok)

Deputy / vice leadership: Deputy Governors include Roong Poshyananda Mallikamas and Piti Disyatat (named in 2025 appointment and policy reporting); the full deputy roster was not re-verified against bot.or.th in this pass

Board / committee: Monetary Policy Committee: 7 members

Appointment & term: The Governor is appointed by the King on the Cabinet's recommendation, following a selection process led by the finance ministry, for a five-year term, renewable once

Mandate: Under the Bank of Thailand Act: to maintain monetary stability, financial-institution system stability and payment-system stability — operationalised as flexible inflation targeting (a headline target of 1–3 percent agreed with the Cabinet) alongside growth and financial-stability considerations.

Policy instruments: The one-day repo rate (the policy rate; eased through 2025 to 1.50 percent by August 2025 on the Bank's decisions reported that year); open-market operations and BOT bonds; no QE programme is operated; macroprudential measures (LTV rules) are an active second instrument

What it does: Sets the policy rate seven times a year; issues baht banknotes (printed at its own note-printing works); supervises banks and specialised financial institutions; operates the BAHTNET payment system and PromptPay oversight (with the payments industry); manages reserves.

Functions: Monetary policy; financial supervision; currency issue; payment systems; reserve management; statistics; financial consumer protection

Balance sheet / reserves: International reserves are published weekly on bot.or.th (Thailand's reserves are among the world's fifteen largest); a single dated figure is not fixed here because the release is weekly

Offices: Head office in Bangkok (Bang Khun Phrom Palace, Samsen Road); three regional offices (Chiang Mai, Khon Kaen, Songkhla/Hat Yai); the Bank of Thailand Museum is in the Bang Khun Phrom Palace · Annual report: Annual Report published each spring; the Monetary Policy Report quarterly; the Governor's term and reporting are set out on bot.or.th

Distinctiveness: A governor recruited in 2025 from a state savings bank over the Bank's own deputy, on a cabinet process reported in unusual public detail — and a head office that is a former princely palace with its museum inside

Access: Decisions, the Monetary Policy Report, statistics and the Bank of Thailand Museum at Bang Khun Phrom are the public routes via bot.or.th (Thai and English)

Website: bot.or.th · Contact: Contact centre and channels via bot.or.th · Phone: Not captured from the official site in sources checked for this pass · HQ: 273 Samsen Road, Wat Sam Phraya, Phra Nakhon, Bangkok 10200 (head office)

Vitai's selection (Cabinet approval 22 July 2025, term from 1 October 2025, succeeding Sethaput Suthiwartnarueput at the retirement age) is from Reuters reporting of the appointment.

31. BANK INDONESIA (BI) — JAKARTA, INDONESIA

Founded 1953 · Central bank · Asia — Indonesia

Leadership: Destry Damayanti, Governor (confirmed by the DPR plenary on 1 September 2026 for the 2026–2031 term; previously Senior Deputy Governor since 2019 and acting Governor from 26 July 2026, following the resignation of Perry Warjiyo on 25 July 2026)

Deputy / vice leadership: Aida S. Budiman, Senior Deputy Governor (confirmed 1 September 2026); Solikin M. Juhro was confirmed as a Deputy Governor in the same session; the Board's other Deputy Governors serve continuing terms

Board / committee: Board of Governors: the Governor, the Senior Deputy Governor and four to seven Deputy Governors (statutory range)

Appointment & term: The Governor, Senior Deputy Governor and Deputy Governors are nominated by the President and approved by the DPR (Commission XI fit-and-proper test, then plenary) for five-year terms, renewable once

Mandate: Under the Bank Indonesia Act as amended: the sole objective is to achieve and maintain the stability of the rupiah (price and exchange-rate stability) — expressed as an inflation target of 2.5 percent ±1 percent — with the 2023 P2SK law adding support for sustainable economic growth consistent with that stability.

Policy instruments: The BI-Rate (the seven-day reverse-repo rate, successor to the BI 7-Day Reverse Repo Rate) — raised by 100 basis points in 2026 to 5.75 percent by July on the Bank's reporting amid rupiah pressure; foreign-exchange intervention and DNDF operations; macroprudential liquidity incentives; no QE — the 2020–22 'burden-sharing' government-bond purchases in the primary market were exceptional and time-bound

What it does: Sets the BI-Rate monthly; issues rupiah currency; runs the BI-FAST and QRIS payment systems; supervises payment service providers (bank supervision sits with the OJK); manages reserves; operates the government securities market infrastructure with the finance ministry.

Functions: Monetary policy; currency issue; payment systems (BI-FAST, QRIS); reserve management; macroprudential policy; statistics

Balance sheet / reserves: International reserves are published monthly on bi.go.id; a single dated figure is not fixed here; see Sources

Offices: Head office in Jakarta (Jalan M.H. Thamrin); 46 domestic representative offices and overseas offices in New York, London, Singapore, Beijing and Tokyo on its published network · Annual report: Annual Report and the quarterly Monetary Policy Review published on bi.go.id; the Board of Governors meets monthly

Distinctiveness: The guide's freshest succession: an eight-year governor's July 2026 resignation, an acting governor from inside the board, and a parliamentary confirmation completed within six weeks — all documented in the Bank's and Antara's reporting, and printed here on that record

Access: Decisions, the Monetary Policy Review, statistics and the Bank Indonesia Museum (in the old De Javasche Bank building, Jakarta Old Town) are the public routes via bi.go.id (Indonesian and English)

Website: bi.go.id · Contact: Contact centre (BICARA) and channels via bi.go.id · Phone: Not captured from the official site in sources checked for this pass · HQ: Jalan M.H. Thamrin No. 2, Jakarta 10350 (head office)

The Damayanti confirmation (DPR plenary 1 September 2026; Commission XI tests 26–27 August; Perry's voluntary resignation for personal reasons, 25 July 2026) is from Antara reporting carried by Jawawa and AFP reporting of the confirmation.

32. BANGKO SENTRAL NG PILIPINAS (BSP) — MANILA, PHILIPPINES

Founded 1993 · Central bank · Asia — Philippines

Leadership: Eli M. Remolona Jr., Governor (since 3 July 2023; six-year term; confirmed in office through the 22 October 2026 Monetary Board decision)

Deputy / vice leadership: Deputy Governors include Mamerto E. Tangonan, Bernadette Romulo-Puyat, Elmore O. Capule, Lyn I. Javier and Zeno Ronald R. Abenoja (named in the Bank's July–October 2026 records; portfolios span monetary and economics, payments and currency, financial supervision and corporate services)

Board / committee: Monetary Board: 7 members

Appointment & term: The Governor is appointed by the President of the Philippines for a single six-year term; Monetary Board members serve six-year staggered terms; Deputy Governors are appointed by the President on the Monetary Board's recommendation under the charter

Mandate: Under RA 7653 as amended, the primary objective is to maintain price stability conducive to a balanced and sustainable growth of the economy — an inflation target of 3 percent ±1 percent set with the government — alongside promoting the stability of the financial system and a safe, efficient payments system.

Policy instruments: The target reverse repurchase (RRP) rate — raised by 50 basis points to 5.50 percent on 22 October 2026, the fourth increase of the year, with the overnight deposit and lending facilities at 5.00 and 6.00 percent; reserve requirements (being lowered on a published path outside tightening phases); no QE programme is operated

What it does: Sets the policy rate eight times a year; issues peso currency from its Quezon City security plant; supervises banks and other financial institutions; operates the Peso RTGS (PhilPaSSplus) and oversees InstaPay/PESONet; manages reserves.

Functions: Monetary policy; financial supervision; currency issue; payment systems; reserve management; statistics; financial inclusion and literacy programmes

Balance sheet / reserves: Gross international reserves are published monthly on bsp.gov.ph; a single dated figure is not fixed here; see Sources

Offices: Head office in Manila (A. Mabini St. cor. P. Ocampo St., Malate); regional offices and branches across Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao (including Cebu, Davao and Baguio); the BSP Money Museum is in the Manila complex · Annual report: Annual Report published each year; the Monetary Policy Report quarterly; inflation reports and the Governor's statements accompany each Monetary Board meeting

Distinctiveness: A governor tightening into an El Niño food-price shock in October 2026 while publicly quantifying inflation's burden on the poorest 30 percent of households — distributional language unusual in a rate decision, recorded here as reported

Access: Decisions, the Monetary Policy Report, statistics and the Money Museum are the public routes via bsp.gov.ph; the Bank's stakeholder-appreciation and financial-literacy programmes run nationwide

Website: bsp.gov.ph · Contact: Contact and consumer-assistance channels via bsp.gov.ph · Phone: Not captured from the official site in sources checked for this pass · HQ: A. Mabini Street corner P. Ocampo Street, Malate, Manila 1004 (head office)

The 22 October 2026 decision (rate 5.50 percent; facilities 5.00/6.00 percent; fourth hike of 2026) is from Malaya Business Insight and Astig reporting of the BSP statement; deputy names are from the BSP's own July 2026 summit and appreciation-ceremony releases.

MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA

33. SOUTH AFRICAN RESERVE BANK (SARB) — PRETORIA, SOUTH AFRICA

Founded 1921 · Central bank · Africa — South Africa

Leadership: Lesetja Kganyago, Governor (since 9 November 2014; reappointed for a third five-year term, 9 November 2024 to 8 November 2029)

Deputy / vice leadership: Three Deputy Governors: Nomfundo (Fundi) Tshazibana (CEO of the Prudential Authority), Rashad Cassim, and Mampho Modise (since 1 April 2024) — Tshazibana and Cassim reappointed to 31 July 2029

Board / committee: Board: 15 directors. MPC: the Governor, three Deputy Governors and senior officials appointed by the Governor (membership published by the Bank)

Appointment & term: The Governor and Deputy Governors are appointed by the President of South Africa, after consultation with the Minister of Finance and the Board, for five-year renewable terms

Mandate: Under the Constitution (s.224) and the SARB Act, the primary object is to protect the value of the currency in the interest of balanced and sustainable economic growth — operationalised as inflation targeting of 3–6 percent, with a stated preference in recent framework reviews for anchoring at the lower end of the range (a framework review with the Treasury was reported in progress in 2025–26)

Policy instruments: The repurchase (repo) rate; no QE programme has been operated; the Bank intervenes in foreign-exchange markets only exceptionally; macroprudential and Prudential Authority tools carry the financial-stability load

What it does: Sets the repo rate six times a year; issues rand banknotes and coins (printed and struck by its subsidiaries); supervises banks through the Prudential Authority (inside the Bank since 2018); manages reserves; operates the SAMOS payment system.

Functions: Monetary policy; prudential supervision (Prudential Authority); currency issue; payment systems; reserve management; financial stability; statistics

Balance sheet / reserves: Gross reserves are published in the Bank's monthly statement and the Quarterly Bulletin on resbank.co.za; a single dated figure is not fixed here; see Sources

Offices: Head office in Pretoria (370 Helen Joseph Street); branches historically in major cities (cash functions largely consolidated); the SARB Museum and visitor centre is in Pretoria · Annual report: Annual Report published each June ahead of the annual general meeting of shareholders; Quarterly Bulletin in March, June, September and December; Monetary Policy Review twice yearly

Distinctiveness: The world's most prominent surviving shareholder-owned central bank: private shareholders elect nearly half the board yet hold no policy power — a 1921 design that every reform debate since has left standing

Access: Decisions, the Quarterly Bulletin, data and the Pretoria museum/visitor centre are the public routes via resbank.co.za; the Bank's annual general meeting is open to its shareholders on the published record

Website: resbank.co.za · Contact: Contact and media pages via resbank.co.za · Phone: Not captured from the official site in sources checked for this pass · HQ: 370 Helen Joseph Street, Pretoria 0002 (head office)

Third-term dates and the deputy appointments are from the Presidency's March 2024 announcement carried by the Bank and national reporting.

34. BANK OF ISRAEL — JERUSALEM, ISRAEL

Founded 1954 · Central bank · Middle East — Israel

Leadership: Amir Yaron, Governor (since December 2018; reappointed for a second five-year term from December 2023; chairing the Monetary Committee through its September–October 2026 decisions)

Deputy / vice leadership: Andrew Abir, Deputy Governor (in office through 2026 per the Bank's minutes and Reuters reporting)

Board / committee: Monetary Committee: 6 members (the sixth seat's occupancy has varied with public-representative appointments; the Bank's September 2026 minutes list the Governor, the Deputy Governor, the Research Director and two public representatives by name)

Appointment & term: The Governor is appointed by the President of Israel on the government's recommendation for a five-year term, renewable once; the Deputy Governor is appointed by the government on the Governor's recommendation

Mandate: Under the Bank of Israel Law 2010, the primary objective is to maintain price stability — an inflation target of 1–3 percent set by the government — and, subject to it, to support growth, employment and the reduction of social gaps, and the stability of the financial system.

Policy instruments: The Bank of Israel interest rate (set nine times a year); foreign-exchange purchases have been a recurring instrument (including the announced 2021 programme); government-bond purchases were operated in 2020 (a QE-style programme, since ended); in September 2026 the Committee cut the rate on the published decision path reported by Reuters

What it does: Sets the interest rate through the Monetary Committee; issues shekel banknotes and coins; supervises banks through its Banking Supervision Department; operates the Zahav RTGS system; manages the foreign-exchange reserves (among the world's largest relative to GDP); advises the government, whose economic adviser the Governor is by law.

Functions: Monetary policy; banking supervision; currency issue; payment systems; reserve management; statistics; government economic advice

Balance sheet / reserves: Foreign-exchange reserves are published monthly on boi.org.il (Israel's reserves are among the largest in the world relative to GDP); a single dated figure is not fixed here; see Sources

Offices: Head office in Jerusalem (Bank of Israel Street, Kiryat HaMemshala); a Tel Aviv office (Lilienblum Street); the Bank's visitor centre is in Tel Aviv · Annual report: Annual Report published each spring; the Governor's press conferences accompany rate decisions; monetary-policy reporting to the Knesset is statutory

Distinctiveness: A governor who is by statute the government's economic adviser as well as its monetary counterweight, and a committee structure (2010) that replaced one of the last single-person rate regimes among major central banks

Access: Decisions, minutes, the Annual Report, data and the Tel Aviv visitor centre are the public routes via boi.org.il (Hebrew and English)

Website: boi.org.il · Contact: Public enquiries unit and contact pages via boi.org.il · Phone: Not captured from the official site in sources checked for this pass · HQ: Bank of Israel Street, Kiryat HaMemshala, Jerusalem (head office)

Composition is from the Bank's official minutes of the 31 August–1 September 2026 interest-rate discussion; October 2026 expectations reporting is Reuters'.

35. CENTRAL BANK OF THE UNITED ARAB EMIRATES (CBUAE) — ABU DHABI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

Founded 1980 · Central bank · Middle East — United Arab Emirates

Leadership: Khaled Mohamed Balama, Governor (since April 2021; convening the Bank's CEO meetings and representing the CBUAE through October 2026)

Deputy / vice leadership: Assistant Governors serve under the Governor in the Bank's published structure (named in its meeting reporting); no deputy-governor office in the Western sense is published

Board / committee: Board of Directors: the Chairman, Vice Chairman, the Governor and members appointed by decree (composition published by the Bank)

Appointment & term: The Governor is appointed by federal decree for a term set by the appointment instrument; Board members are appointed by decree under the 2018 central-bank law (Federal Decree-Law No. 14 of 2018)

Mandate: Under the 2018 law: to maintain the stability of the currency (the dollar peg), ensure the stability of the financial system through licensing and supervision, manage reserves, and promote payment systems and financial inclusion.

Policy instruments: The Base Rate (anchored to the Federal Reserve's interest on reserve balances, by the Bank's published framework) applied to overnight deposits; CBUAE certificates of deposit and Islamic certificates; the Financial Institutions Resilience Package (March 2026) is its current prudential-stability programme; no QE is operated

What it does: Sets the Base Rate in the Fed's wake; licenses and supervises banks, insurers and payment companies; issues dirham currency (through the Treasury's minting arrangements); manages reserves; operates the UAE Funds Transfer System and the national instant-payment platform (Aani oversight).

Functions: Monetary operations under the peg; banking and insurance supervision; currency issue; payment systems; reserve management; anti-money-laundering supervision with the Executive Office

Balance sheet / reserves: Foreign assets and the balance sheet are published in the Bank's monthly statistical bulletin and annual report on centralbank.ae; banking-sector indicators (assets up 12.9 percent year-on-year to August 2026) are published in its meeting releases — reserves scale itself: published in the bulletin, not fixed here

Offices: Head office in Abu Dhabi (King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud Street, Al Bateen); branches in Dubai, Sharjah, Ras Al Khaimah, Fujairah and Al Ain on its published network · Annual report: Annual Report published each year; the Quarterly Economic Review and monthly statistical bulletin are on centralbank.ae

Distinctiveness: A central bank chaired at board level by the state's Vice President, running a hard dollar peg, which in 2026 won Central Banking's Risk Manager of the Year award for embedding AI into its supervisory risk work — a pairing of tradition and technique printed here as reported

Access: Reports, statistics, licensing registers and its consumer-protection channels are the public routes via centralbank.ae (Arabic and English)

Website: centralbank.ae · Contact: Contact and consumer-protection channels via centralbank.ae · Phone: Not captured from the official site in sources checked for this pass · HQ: King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud Street, Al Bateen, Abu Dhabi (head office)

Balama's governorship and the August 2026 sector indicators are from WAM reporting of the Bank's 5 October 2026 CEO meeting; the board chairmanship is quoted from the Bank's award statement.

36. SAUDI CENTRAL BANK (SAMA) — RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA

Founded 1952 · Central bank / monetary agency · Middle East — Saudi Arabia

Leadership: Ayman M. Al-Sayari, Governor (since February 2023; delivering SAMA's IMFC statement in April 2026 and its Money20/20 Middle East keynote in September 2026)

Deputy / vice leadership: Vice Governors serve under the Governor in SAMA's published structure; individual names were not captured in the sources checked for this pass and are flagged in the README

Board / committee: Board of Directors: the Governor as chair, the Vice Governor and members appointed by royal order (composition published by SAMA)

Appointment & term: The Governor is appointed by royal order for a term set by the appointment instrument under the 2020 law, holding ministerial rank

Mandate: Under the Saudi Central Bank Law: to maintain monetary stability (through the dollar peg), promote financial-system stability, license and supervise banks, finance companies, insurers and payment providers, protect customers, and support the financial sector's contribution to the Kingdom's development (Vision 2030).

Policy instruments: The repo and reverse-repo rates, set in step with the Federal Reserve under the peg; SAMA bills; open banking and instant payments (sarie) as structural tools; no QE is operated

What it does: Sets repo/reverse-repo rates mirroring the Fed; supervises banks, insurers and the fast-growing fintech sector (371 operating fintech companies by August 2026, per the Governor's keynote); manages reserves (invested substantially through SAMA's balance sheet alongside the Public Investment Fund's separate mandate); operates the SARIE payment system.

Functions: Monetary operations under the peg; banking, insurance and fintech supervision and licensing; currency issue; payment systems; reserve management; statistics; consumer protection

Balance sheet / reserves: Foreign reserve assets are published monthly in SAMA's statistical bulletin on sama.gov.sa (Saudi reserves are among the world's largest); a single dated figure is not fixed here because the bulletin is monthly

Offices: Head office in Riyadh (King Saud Bin Abdulaziz Street, Al-Murabba); branches across the Kingdom's regions on its published network · Annual report: Annual Report published each summer; the Financial Stability Report annually; monthly statistical bulletin on sama.gov.sa

Distinctiveness: A peg-following rate structure with a supervisor's remit wide enough to count a national fintech census in its governor's keynote — SAMA licenses the sector it also counts

Access: Reports, statistics, licensing registers and the SAMA Cares channel are the public routes via sama.gov.sa (Arabic and English)

Website: sama.gov.sa · Contact: Contact and SAMA Cares consumer channels via sama.gov.sa · Phone: Not captured from the official site in sources checked for this pass · HQ: King Saud Bin Abdulaziz Street, Al-Murabba, Riyadh (head office)

Al-Sayari's governorship is confirmed by BIS records of his April 2026 IMFC statement and September 2026 Money20/20 keynote.

NAMED GAPS

One leadership report was unconfirmed at press time: media reports of Oct. 21, 2026 stated that National Bank of Ukraine Governor Andriy Pyshnyy had submitted a resignation for health reasons. The NBU had issued no confirmation in sources checked by Oct. 22; he is printed in office, the report flagged in his entry, and no successor is named. Reporting that ECB President Christine Lagarde might leave before her term ends in October 2027 is likewise printed as speculation, not as an appointment. Deputy leadership could not be confirmed name by name, in the sources checked, for ten banks — among them the Riksbank's First Deputy Governor chair, the Bank of Korea's Senior Deputy Governor after August 2026, and the People's Bank of China's deputy governors — and each entry says so in its own field rather than carrying a stale name. Published headquarters phone numbers were captured from official sources for four banks only; the rest say so plainly. Where a bank publishes its balance weekly or monthly, the entry names that publication of record instead of freezing a figure that would be stale on arrival; the Bank of Russia's reserves composition, unpublished in full since 2022, is recorded as a disclosure limit. The Bank of Greece, the National Bank of Romania and the Croatian National Bank were excluded on verification grounds alone and are the recommended first additions at the next update, with Colombia, Peru, Malaysia and the other peers named in the guide's README.

Compiled October 2026 from official bank sources, BIS records and reputable wire reporting. Institutional figures are labelled as such and dated; leadership reflects official sources at press time. The master data file (CSV) accompanies this guide in the LIKE® Markets department records.