Since the global financial crisis, central banks have taken on broader responsibilities, adding financial stability, payments oversight and sometimes development objectives to price stability. Staff in these institutions, and in the banks and ministries that deal with them, must understand both the legal architecture that sets the mandate and the day-to-day operations that implement it.

The programme starts with the foundations of central bank law and governance, including independence, accountability, transparency and the relationship with the government. It then examines monetary policy design: objectives, strategies, transmission channels, forecasting and policy committee processes. Participants then work through the machinery of monetary operations, learning how a bank projects system liquidity, chooses instruments and manages its own balance sheet and reserves. The regulatory half of the course deals with licensing, prudential standards, macroprudential policy, stress testing, deposit insurance and bank resolution.

Learning combines lecture, balance sheet exercises, review of published policy statements and a simulated monetary policy committee meeting where groups must agree a decision and communicate it to the public. By the close, each participant has a clearer sense of how legal design, policy judgement and market operations reinforce one another.

By the end of the course, participants will be able to:

• Explain the legal mandate, independence and governance arrangements of a central bank.
• Compare monetary policy frameworks, including inflation targeting and exchange rate regimes.
• Describe the transmission channels through which policy rate changes affect the economy.
• Forecast system liquidity and select suitable open market and standing facility operations.
• Assess the design of reserve requirements and foreign exchange intervention policy.
• Apply macroprudential and microprudential tools to contain systemic risk.
• Outline the principles of payment system oversight, crisis management and bank resolution.
• Prepare clear policy communications for markets and the public.

The programme is aimed at those who design, implement or are affected by monetary and regulatory policy, including:

• Central bank economists, researchers and policy analysts
• Monetary operations, financial markets and reserves management officers
• Banking supervision and financial stability staff
• Treasury and ministry of finance officials
• Commercial bank treasurers and asset-liability managers
• Payment system and financial market infrastructure overseers
• Regulators of insurance, pensions and capital markets
• Legal officers and company secretaries in financial institutions

Participants leave the course with:

• A clear map of how central bank mandate, policy and operations connect.
• A simple liquidity forecasting worksheet and instrument selection guide.
• A comparison of policy frameworks with their advantages and risks.
• A checklist for reviewing macroprudential and supervisory measures.
• Practice drafting a policy decision statement and market communication.
• A reading list and action plan for applying the content in their institution.

The programme balances conceptual knowledge with institutional practice through:

• Lectures from practitioners with central banking and regulatory experience
• Balance sheet and liquidity exercises using stylised data
• Reading and critique of published policy statements and financial stability reports
• Comparative cases from several regions
• A simulated policy committee to practise decision-making and communication

Participants who complete the five days and the practical sessions are issued a CPD-accredited Certificate of Completion by Vision Reach Global Consultancy.