The Bank for International Settlements attempts to facilitate cooperation among countries with regard to international transactions. It also provides assistance to countries experiencing a financial crisis. The BIS is sometimes referred to as the “central banks’ central bank” or the “lender last resort”. It played an important role in supporting some of the less developed countries during international debt crisis in the early and mid-1980s. It commonly provides financing for central banks in Latin American and Eastern European countries.
Bank for International Settlements (BIS) is an international bank headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, which serves as a forum for monetary cooperation among several European central banks, the Bank of Japan, and the US Federal Reserve System.
Founded in 1930 to handle the German payment of World War I reparations, it now monitors and collects data on international banking activity and promulgates rules concerning international bank regulation.