Redefining resilience in reserve management
Central banks entered this decade thinking the hardest shocks were behind them. Instead, they now operate in a world where geopolitical strain, inflation volatility and rapid technological change have turned reserve management into a test of institutional resilience.
OMFIF’s Global Public Investor Working Group brought together 10 central banks from Europe, Africa, Asia and Latin America. The conversations had with each institution reveal a system that is shifting yet still anchored in the familiar priorities of safety and liquidity. These conclusions have informed a new report published by the working group, supported by data from OMFIF’s Global Public Investor 2025 survey.
Geopolitics is affecting currency choices, safety is being redefined and technology is reshaping process, not purpose. The working group discussions show central banks adapting in uneven but pragmatic ways as they rebuild confidence and capacity for a more unstable world.
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Key findings:
- The dollar remains the anchor of global reserves yet trust in the US policy environment has weakened. While several central banks hold between 70% and 80% of their reserves in dollars, nearly 60% of respondents to the GPI survey plan to diversify in the next one to two years.
- Central banks from both developed and emerging markets are planning to add to their gold holdings, but the rise is driven by politics more than price. As one reserve manager put it, holding gold signals independence.
- Despite political strain, central banks agree there is no substitute for the liquidity of the US Treasury market. The GPI 2025 found that 92% of survey respondents still see it as sufficiently liquid.
- Artificial intelligence adoption remains limited and uneven. Most central banks are only just beginning to use it, mainly for simple tasks like summarising data or scanning markets. Notably, the institutions that have explored furthest are also the most cautious about the risks involved.
- Resilience is the new performance benchmark. Every central bank returned to the same question: what does resilience look like in practice? All agreed that safety and liquidity still sit at the core.
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