The Center for Latin American Monetary Studies (CEMLA) is pleased to announce that the Call for Papers for the 2025 CEMLA Central Bank Award is now open. Paper submissions are welcome until April 25, 2025, to the email address: award@cemla.org. In this edition, CEMLA will award the first place a total of 15,000 U.S. dollars, the second place, 5,000 U.S. dollars, and the third place, 2,500 U.S. dollars. This edition also contemplates granting an Honorary Mention to a maximum of 8 papers (1,000 U.S. dollars each). For more information about this Call for Papers, please visit https://www.cemla.org/centralbankaward.html.

We are pleased to announce that CEMLA's journal, Latin American Journal of Central Banking (LAJCB), has been accepted for indexing in Web of Science, with a first Impact Factor expected for mid-2025. This has been possible due to the efforts of the editorial board, the reviewers but, mostly, to the authors who have submitted their papers to the LAJCB since its inception in 2020. We encourage you to submit your paper here.

Baltasar Cordeiro, Head of the Logistics and Documentation Division, Banco de Portugal, María de Inclán, Head of the Archives and Document Management Division, Banco de España and Roberto Marino, Advisor to the General Directorate of CEMLA welcomed the Meeting of Experts on Document and Archive Management in Central Banks.

CEMLA, the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI), and Euroclima+ organized the Workshop on Climate Stress Testing for Central Banks. The event took place at CEMLA’s premises in Mexico City, Mexico, from November 29 to December 3, 2024.

The workshop was delivered by world-renowned scholars Prof. Irene Monasterolo (Utrecht University) and Prof. Stefano Battiston (University of Zurich and University of Venice). Its program, available here, aimed to enhance central banks’ methodological capacities for assessing climate-related financial risks, enabling attendees to develop use cases for climate stress testing applications that central banks can incorporate as analytical tools for financial stability monitoring.

The Remittances and Development Program (PRYD), which is implemented by CEMLA, financed by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), a specialized agency of the United Nations and it involved the support of Central Banks, considers that having organized and structured information about remittances and migration is the first step for effective policy analysis and the search for possible measures that could improve the contribution of remittances to the economic development of recipient households and countries in LAC.

In this sense and as part of the objectives of the PRYD, a data analysis and digital consultation platform has been developed, called RemitSCOPE, this time for Latin America and the Caribbean, which includes available information on different aspects related to remittances, migration and their relationship with financial inclusion and development.

In RemitSCOPE LAC you can explore, visualize and interact with the indicators that make it up according to the country, region and period of interest; It can be accessed through the website https://remitscope.org/latin-america/.

Gustavo Leyva (CEMLA) taught the course, which offered an introductory look at modern intertemporal macroeconomics, with special emphasis on developing numerical methods to solve representative and heterogeneous agent economies. The course dealt with iteration methods on the value function, the Euler equation, and parametric approximation methods for the decision rules. In addition, discretization algorithms for autoregressive processes were discussed to implement the solution of these economies on the computer. The course was taught virtually between November 27 and December 3, 2024.

CEMLA, the Federal Reserve Bank at Dallas (Dallas Fed), and the International Banking, Economics, and Finance Association (IBEFA) organized the III CEMLA/Dallas Fed/IBEFA Workshop on Financial Stability at CEMLA’s premises in Mexico City, Mexico, on November 25-26, 2024. The event focused on frontier research in financial intermediation.

The agenda, available here, included a keynote address by Professor Viral V. Acharya titled “Systemic Risk Measures: Taking Stock from 1927 to 2023” and featured sessions on financial digitalization and banking supervision, macroprudential policy and real estate markets, climate-related financial risks, moral hazard and FX risk in banking, and financing green growth and quantitative easing dynamics. Additionally, a special session, sponsored by the Latin American Journal of Central Banking, was dedicated to discussing outstanding research relevant to the region.

The XIX Meeting of Heads of Monetary Policy took place on November 21 and 22, 2024 in Mexico City. The Meeting featured Óscar Arce (European Central Bank) and Trevor Reeve (Federal Reserve Board) as Invited Speakers. Óscar Arce's talk revolved around the Euro Area Economic Outlook and Monetary Policy, while Trevor Reeve presented the Monetary Policy in the U.S. The Meeting included presentations by Manuel Ramos-Francia (CEMLA) on “Recent Developments in Inflation and Monetary Policy in LA” and “Clogged Capital Flows Pipes? The Role of Pipes in Liquidity and Funding Stress”.

The Meeting also featured presentations from André Amante (Banco Central do Brasil), Guillermo Carlomagno (Banco Central de Chile), Alejandrina Salcedo (Banco de México), Juan José Ospina (Banco de la República - Colombia), Adrián Armas (Banco Central de Reserva del Perú), and Mauro Alessandro (Banco Central de la República Argentina) on their experiences in conducting monetary policy. Finally, a Round Table was held among heads of monetary policy, in which Leonardo Vicente (Banco Central del Uruguay) and Gabriel Cuadra (Banco de México) joined.

A new CEMLA Working Paper entitled ”Crisis Relief in Cash: How Remittances Drive Bank Lending in a Global Pandemic” has been published by researchers from CEMLA and the Honduran Comisión Nacional de Bancos y Seguros (CNBS). The study examines the impact of an exogenous shock to remittances on the financial sector in Honduras during the COVID-19 pandemic. The paper finds that remittance inflows have a positive effect on banks’ credit supply to firms highlighting the importance of remittances in stabilizing economic growth during a global crisis.

The article can be downloaded in the following link: Crisis Relief in Cash: How Remittances Drive Bank Lending in a Global Pandemic

CEMLA’s Board of Governors decided to grant the First Place of the 2024 CEMLA Central Bank Award to the study “Leavers and Stayers after Mass Layoffs: Labor and Credit Market Outcomes” by Bruno Perdigão, Carlos Carvalho, Natália Corado, and Gustavo Gonzaga. In turn, the Board of Governors recognized Néstor Miguel Sarmiento Paipilla with the Second Place Award for his study “The real effects of Too-Big-To-Fail regulation: Evidence from emerging markets.” The Third Place Award was granted to the study “Delinquency rate in the Peruvian agro-export sector in the context of the El Niño Phenomenon: firm-level evidence for the period 2013-2019” by Pedro L. Azañedo, Luis A. Casaverde, Denys Casiano, and José Lupú. Finally, the Board decided to recognize two Honorable Mentions for the following studies: “Credit market sentiment, investor monitoring and firms’ international borrowing” by Jose Maria Serena, and “Beyond Carry-Trading: New Insights into the Uses of Foreign-Denominated Bond Issuances by Latin American Firms” by Nicolás Zeolla, Rodrigo Pérez-Artica, and Joel Rabinovich.

The Financial Market Infrastructure Department of CEMLA, in collaboration with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Association of Banking Supervisors of the Americas (ASBA), organized the Cyber Resilience Workshop in Latin America and the Caribbean on October 4, 2024. This virtual event brought together 137 representatives from 37 CEMLA member institutions.

CEMLA’s Directorate of Financial Stability organized the XIV Meeting of Heads of Financial Stability. The meeting was held in Mexico City, Mexico on September 10-11, 2024. The meeting presented different topical issues, such as the lessons learned for financial stability from monetary policy tightening cycles, emerging vulnerabilities in the nonbank financial sector, and the financial stability implications of climate-related risks.

The agenda, available here, included two keynote sessions. The first was delivered by Valentina Bruno, Professor of Finance at American University's Kogod School of Business, who presented the keynote address titled “Exchange Rates and Global Financial Conditions.” The second keynote was given by Jose M. Berrospide, Assistant Director in the Division of Financial Stability at the Federal Reserve Board, titled “Emerging Financial-Stability Risks from the Shadow Banking Sector.”

The V Course on Machine Learning and Central Banking, organized by CEMLA and the Deutsche Bundesbank, was developed in two phases: a theoretical one in digital format from August 12 to 13, 2024, and a practical one at CEMLA's facilities from September 2 to 4. The course focused on providing participants with Machine Learning (ML) tools to solve practical problems in the central banking arena. The practical phase included dynamics that encouraged the exchange of ideas and collaboration among the attendees. 18 use cases were presented in areas such as natural language processing and risk modeling, and discussion sessions were held where participants shared their experiences with traditional techniques and ML techniques.

During the practical sessions, the groups discussed the problems faced and the proposed solutions, receiving continuous feedback from the instructors. The dynamics included presentations of advances, discussions on common challenges such as data extraction and transformation, and the balance between accuracy and explainability of the models. Participants explored diverse models, including Transformers and clustering techniques such as DBSCAN and K-Means, in an environment of active collaboration and critical analysis.

The course was held from July 29 to August 2, 2024 at the CEMLA facilities with the cooperation of the Statistics Department of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The main objective of the course was to provide a deep understanding of the concepts, data sources and compilation techniques of international trade statistics in goods and services, as well as their application to complex methodological problems.

The course consisted of presentations and workshops that allowed learning about issues of international trade in goods and provided a forum for the exchange of experiences from different cases presented by the participants. The challenges in compiling foreign trade data in emerging areas were analyzed and specific topics were highlighted, such as estimating informal cross-border activities and digitalization. The course examined issues and challenges that arise as a result of the evolution of the global economy and discussed their impact on the work of compiling foreign trade data. The exercises developed in the workshops were aimed at integrating the knowledge acquired in the course into its practical application.

During August 15-16, 2024, CEMLA organized the Workshop on The Macroeconomics of Inflation in the Post-Covid-19 Era as part of the 2024 Joint Research Program. Researchers from the Banco Central de la República Argentina, Banco Central de Honduras, Banco de México, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, and Banco Central del Uruguay participated in the CEMLA Workshop, sharing and improving their projects under the supervision of two expert advisors, Daniel Chiquiar (Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México, ITAM) and Javier García-Cicco (Universidad de San Andrés).

CEMLA carried out the Course on Monetary and Financial Information for Macroeconomic Analysis from July 1 to 5, 2024 at its facilities in Mexico City. The main objective of the course was to provide the accounting and analytical elements necessary to analyze the balance sheet and income statement of a central bank, its connection with the formulation and monitoring of monetary policy measures and the macroeconomic impact of such measures. The course was aimed at central bank officials who carry out economic analysis, as well as officials responsible for evaluating the financial statements of central institutes.

The Center for Latin American Monetary Studies (CEMLA) is pleased to announce the 2024 CEMLA Conference - XXIX Meeting of the Central Bank Researchers Network, to be held on November 7-8, 2024, at CEMLA's headquarters in Mexico City. CEMLA invites paper contributions covering topics of interest to central banking, including, but not limited to, monetary theory and policy, financial intermediation (both theory and empirics), climate-related aspects of financial stability and monetary policy, digitalization and financial markets, and payments and market infrastructures. Paper submissions are welcome until August 16, 2024, through the email address: conference@cemla.org.

As with other events organized by CEMLA, this Conference offers a unique opportunity to hear about recent developments in central banking issues from leading academic scholars and policymakers. In this edition, CEMLA is delighted to announce the participation of Professors David Andolfatto (Miami Herbert Business School) and Pablo Kurlat (University of Southern California) as Keynote Speakers.

The Suptech and Regtech Course was held digitally from June 25-27, 2024. The event brought together experts and participants to explore the latest trends and developments in these crucial areas. Organized with the technical assistance of Financial Network Analytics, the course offered a comprehensive overview of innovations in Suptech and Regtech.

Topics covered included current trends and developments in Suptech and Regtech, with presentations on artificial intelligence monitoring and effective strategy design. The use of Regtech and Suptech to combat fraud and cyber risks were explored, with presentations from the World Bank Group, FNA and the Bank of England on AML, CFT and real-time fraud analysis. In addition, the design and regulation of Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) and cryptoassets were discussed, with an emphasis on the use of alternative data. Experts from FNA, the Bank of Canada and the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia offered perspectives on the implications of CBDCs, the current state of digital currencies and leveraging alternative data for regulatory purposes.

The course was held from June 24 to 28, 2024 at the CEMLA facilities with the cooperation of the Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía (INEGI) of Mexico. The main objective of the course was to present the tasks involved in updating the base year in the national accounting system, including the methodological aspects and the information requirements involved in its preparation.

The event began with the outline of the phases that were carried out in the planning of the update of Mexico's national accounts system, moving from a 2013 base to a new 2018 base, including programming, the formation of the legal framework, alignment with international standards and commitments and carrying out different public consultations.