Frank Smets appointed as Deputy Head of the Monetary and Economic Department (MED)

• Appointment is for a five-year term, starting on 1 December 2024  
• Mr Smets comes to the BIS from the European Central Bank 
• He will join Gaston Gelos as one of two Deputy Heads of MED   

The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) has appointed Frank Smets as Deputy Head of the Monetary and Economic Department (MED) and Head of Economic Analysis and Statistics. He will begin his five-year term on 1 December 2024.   

Mr Smets joins the BIS from the European Central Bank, where he is Adviser to the Executive Board. Previously he was Director General of Economics, Adviser to the President of the ECB and Director General of Research at the ECB. He started his career at the BIS, where he worked until 1998. He held the BIS Alexandre Lamfalussy Senior Research Fellowship in 2023.   

He is a recognised expert on monetary economics and monetary policy. He holds a PhD in economics from Yale University. His research includes work on monetary, macroeconomic, financial and international issues, mostly related to central banking.   

Mr Smets will be one of two Deputy Heads of MED, with Gaston Gelos, Head of Financial Stability Policy. As previously announced, MED will return to its previous management structure on the retirement of the current Head of MED, Claudio Borio, at the end of 2024. The current Economic Adviser and Head of Research, Hyun Song Shin, will assume the role of Economic Adviser and Head of MED.