The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) announced a Renminbi Liquidity Arrangement (RMBLA), which has been developed with the People's Bank of China (PBC), to provide liquidity to central banks through a new reserve pooling scheme.

The RMBLA aims to provide liquidity support and can be utilised by participating central banks during future periods of market volatility.

Each participating central bank contributes a minimum of RMB 15 billion or US dollar equivalent, in RMB or USD, placed with the BIS, creating a reserve pool.

The arrangement initially includes a group of central banks in Asia and the Pacific, including Bank Indonesia, Central Bank of Malaysia, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, the Monetary Authority of Singapore and the Central Bank of Chile, as well as the PBC.

The reserve pooling provides additional features as participating central banks would not only be able to draw down on their contributions, but would also gain access to additional funding through a collateralised liquidity window operated by the BIS up to an amount equivalent to the central bank's share of the collateralised liquidity window.

The BIS, as a bank for central banks, is well positioned to implement this arrangement, given its existing banking relationships with the central banks and a highly liquid and flexible balance sheet. The BIS has over time worked with major reserve currency-issuing central banks to assist in the implementation of part of the liquidity support packages provided by these central banks to their counterparts to protect against market stresses and to safeguard financial stability.