BIS Innovation Hub Head Exits Early

Almost three years into what was meant to be a five-year term, Cecilia Skingsley has left her role as head of the Bank for International Settlements’ Innovation Hub for a government role in her native Sweden.

Although the BIS continues to work on multiple projects around tokenisation and central bank digital currencies, speculation is likely to grow about its commitment to the latter in particular. Not only did the BIS surprise many by withdrawing from Project mBridge, in association with a large number of central banks in October 2024, but CBDCs have become something of a political football, and have roundly been rejected by the current US administration. These events have led some to suggest widescale CBDC deployment is unlikely.

Ahead of unveiling its strategy for appointing a successor, the BIS says that Andréa Maechler, deputy general manager of the institution, who was appointing in September 2023, will lead the Innovation Hub on an interim basis.

Skingsley will leave on 15 June for the role as county governor of the County Administrative Board of Stockholm. Announcing the departure, Augustín Carstens, general manager of the BIS, says, “Under Cecilia’s leadership, the BIS Innovation Hub made great strides towards fulfilling our strategic goal of helping central banks face the challenges of the future by exploring cutting-edge financial technologies. It recently completed its expansion to seven centres worldwide, concluded over 30 projects, started many others and has synthesised the lessons from these experiments for the broader community of central banks, regulators and supervisors. Cecilia has built a skilled and passionate team steeped in the culture of innovation and ready to take on more challenges.”