Bending and bowing the BIS

Abstract

The official story of the Bank for International Settlements is one of continuous transformation over a period of almost 80 years. It has survived one crisis after the other. It is true that its functions and purpose have changed over the years, but the chameleonic change the Bank exhibits does not reflect change in all aspects of what is a very complex organization. If we look inside the organization we get a picture of basic command structures that have remained completely intact for the entire life-span of the organization. Thus, a study of the Bank for International Settlements clearly illustrates that actors play decisive roles for organizational change as well as for stability. Institutional entrepreneurs adapt the functions and purpose of an organization to the changing environment, whereas maintenance workers invest all their skills and resources in protecting and consolidating the power relations that were established during the very first months of the organization's life.

Keywords:

• institutional change
• historical institutionalism
• Bank for International Settlements (BIS)
• international financial organizations

Notes

1. The historical archives of the Danmarks Nationalbank, the Bank for International Settlements, and the Sveriges Riksbank were consulted in 2005, 2006 and 2007 respectively. In the Danmarks Nationalbank, the various BIS files from 1930–85 were consulted. In the BIS, McGarrah's personal correspondence was central, and in the Sveriges Riksbank, Ivar Rooth's correspondence with Per Jacobsson, Oluf Berntsen, the BIS and the Scandinavian central banks was central. Attention has been directed at a formative moment such as the establishment of the BIS decision-making structures and procedures, and at consecutive challenges towards these structures by particularly Scandinavian central bank governors. Files after 1985 were made subject to a proviso as a result of which no access was possible. The author thanks Jacob Torfing, Helen Hancock, the journal editor as well as the referee for suggesting ways of improving the argument of the article.

2. http://www.bis.org

3. Toniolo (2005, p. 116).