Evolution of an International Quango: Policy Change in the Bank for International Settlements

The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) is the premiere international institution for the regulation of the world's financial system. Originally established to handle German reparations payments, the BIS's contemporary role is to provide global standards for prudential bank regulation and to facilitate information sharing among a range of state and non-state actors. While privately incorporated and underwritten by its member central banks, the BIS is fundamentally a service provider with quasi-non-governmental organization, `quango', status. This paper traces the evolution of this unique international quango, stressing the development of the Basle Accords of 1988 and 2004, and how the BIS uses informal and formal networks of elite policymakers to create a normative consensus that compensates for its lack of formal enforcement mechanisms.