CPMI

The Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures (CPMI) is a standard-setting committee hosted by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) in Basel. It brings together central banks to promote the safety and efficiency of payment, clearing, settlement, and related arrangements that support financial stability and the wider economy. CPMI was created in September 2014 when the BIS renamed and broadened the mandate of its predecessor, the Committee on Payment and Settlement Systems (CPSS), which had existed since 1990.

Membership consists of central banks from major advanced and emerging economies. The committee's secretariat sits at the BIS, and its chair is drawn from a member central bank on a rotating basis. CPMI does not have legal authority of its own; its standards take effect through implementation by national authorities and through assessment exercises such as IMF–World Bank Financial Sector Assessment Programs (FSAPs).

Key outputs include:

• The Principles for Financial Market Infrastructures (PFMI), issued jointly with IOSCO in April 2012, which set 24 principles covering systemically important payment systems, central securities depositories, securities settlement systems, central counterparties, and trade repositories.
• Guidance on cyber resilience for financial market infrastructures (2016, also with IOSCO).
• Work on cross-border payments under the G20 Roadmap launched in 2020, including reports on enhancing speed, cost, transparency, and access.
• Analysis of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), notably the 2020 joint report with seven central banks setting out foundational CBDC principles, and ongoing work on wholesale CBDC and tokenisation.
• Statistics on payments, often called the Red Book.

CPMI coordinates closely with the Financial Stability Board (FSB), IOSCO, and the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision. For MUN delegates and IR researchers, CPMI is the principal venue where technical rules for the plumbing of the international financial system are negotiated, even though it operates with less public visibility than the IMF or G20.