Seminar on the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation
September, 1959, Washington D.C., U.S.A.

CEMLA since 1952 is the Association of Central Banks of Latin America and the Caribbean.

Our main objectives are: To promote a better understanding of monetary and banking matters; help with improving the training of central bank staff; conduct research and systematize the results, and provide information to members about events of international and regional interest in the areas of monetary and financial policies.

News

Seminario Virtual sobre Diseño de Escenarios en Pruebas de Estrés


El 24 de marzo de 2023, CEMLA organizó el Seminario de Investigación con el Prof. Dimitrios Tsomocos de la Universidad de Oxford sobre Deuda Legada de las Empresas, Inflación y Eficacia de la Política Monetaria. El seminario se llevó a cabo en un formato híbrido, asistiendo 11 representantes presenciales y 42 virtuales de 23 instituciones y asociados del CEMLA. La presentación del seminario está disponible aquí.

 

Seminar on Scenario Design in Stress Testing


The Seminar on Scenario Design in Stress Testing, jointly organized by CEMLA and the Financial Stability Institute, was held on a digital format on March 7 and 8, 2023, and was attended by 82 representatives from 29 institutions and associates of CEMLA. The event was focused on scenario design and cyclicality of stress test scenarios, and scenarios for climate-related stress testing exercises.

 

At what times of the day are remittances sent to Mexico?

Jesús A. Cervantes González, Ricardo Velázquez Rodríguez & Cindy Sánchez Ricardo, Nota de Remesas 4/2023

Mexican immigrants who send remittances to their relatives in Mexico, mainly from the United States, can do so practically 24 hours a day. This means that the times at which remittances are sent fully reflect the preferences and needs of these migrants. The time when the highest percentage of remittances are sent during the day is from 7 to 8 p.m. with 10% of the total, and there is a high intensity from 5 p.m. to 12 midnight with 49% of the remittances sent.

 

CEMLA hosted the Research Seminar on Central Bank Digital Currencies and International Payments


On February 3, 2023, CEMLA hosted its Research Seminar on Central Bank Digital Currencies and International Payments, featuring a presentation by Prof. Alistair Milne from Loughborough University. The seminar was held in hybrid format. It was attended by 17 in-person and 127 virtual representatives from 40 institutions and associates of CEMLA. The seminar’s presentation is available here.

 

Determinants of the percentage of income sent as remittances by Mexican immigrants in the United States to their relatives in Mexico

Jesús A. Cervantes González y Rodolfo Ostolaza, Nota de Remesas 3/2023

The note presents indicators of employment, wage bill and remittances sent to Mexico for Mexican immigrants in eight U.S. states, including the five states with the largest Mexican immigrant populations, California, Texas, Illinois, Arizona and Florida. It is highlighted that in the U.S. states there are important differences in the percentage of their labor income that Mexican migrants send as remittances to their relatives in Mexico. Therefore, the factors that determine such differences in the percentage of income sent are analyzed.

 

Call for Papers - II Regional Conference on Payments and Financial Market Infrastructures


CEMLA and Banco de la República, the Central Bank of Colombia, are organizing the II Regional Conference on Payments and Financial Market Infrastructures, to be held in-person in Bogotá, Colombia on September 21-22, 2023. The organizers invite submissions of research papers in different fields of Payments and Financial Market Infrastructures. The Call for Papers and all related information is available in the following link.

 

Mexican immigrants in the United States sent 17 percent of their labor income to their relatives in Mexico in 2022

Jesús A. Cervantes González & Rodolfo Ostolaza, Nota de Remesas 2/2023

Remittances note 2 quantifies the economic effort made in 2022 by Mexican migrants in the United States to support their relatives in Mexico. The main result is that that year the percentage of their income that migrants sent to their relatives in Mexico as remittances was 17.46%. This means that the increase recorded in 2020-2021 in the percentage of labor income sent was maintained in 2022. This reflects the fundamental aspect of remittances, which is to contribute to compensate, albeit partially, the disadvantaged income situation of their relatives in Mexico.

 

Labor income of mexican immigrant workers in the United States reached 320 billion dollars in 2022

Jesús A. Cervantes González & Rodolfo Ostolaza, Nota de Remesas 1/2023

The rebound in the wage bill of Mexican immigrant workers in the United States in 2022 favored the significant increase in Mexico's income from remittances. However, in the fourth quarter of the year, the employment of such workers weakened and in several sectors, such as manufacturing and wholesale and retail trade, it fell on an annual basis. The impact of these developments was reflected in the last months of 2022 in a clear deceleration of Mexico's remittance income.

 

CEMLA jointly with the Dallas Fed host the Financial Stability Workshop


On December 12-13, 2022, CEMLA organized the jointly with the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas the CEMLA/Dallas Fed Financial Stability Workshop. The agenda, available here, included six sessions where speakers presented papers on topics related to the global challenges for monetary policy transmission; banking, financial frictions, and the real economy; macroprudential policy interventions and the real sector; financial stability implications of digitalization; climate-related financial risks; and the global roles of the US dollars. Prof. Victoria Ivashina, Lovett-Learned Professor of Finance, Harvard Business School, NBER, and CEPR, gave the workshop’s keynote lecture.

 

CEMLA hosts the III Central Banks Conference on Environmental Risks


On December 1-2, 2022, CEMLA hosted more than 100 representatives from central banks and supervisory authorities at the III Central Banks Conference on Environmental Risk. During the conference, the Center for Climate Financial Risk was launched, an initiative to foster regional convergence towards incorporating climate objectives in central banks and supervision. The conference agenda, available here, included sessions where panelists discussed the monitoring of climate-related financial risks; sustainable finance taxonomies; and the authorities' role in supporting the transition to a net-zero economy. Finally, in applied sessions, attendees worked on the identification of transition and physical risks and developed action plans to manage climate risks.

 

Aspects of Mexican female migration to the United States

Jesús A. Cervantes González & Denisse Jiménez, Nota de Remesas 14/2022

The note covers five topics on Mexican female migration to the United States. First, it discusses how women's participation in the Mexican immigrant population has increased. Second, the absence of positive net Mexican female migration has significantly increased the median age of Mexican immigrant women. Third, the labor participation rate of this migrant group is low when compared with that observed in the U.S. female labor market. Fourth: the fertility of the aggregate of Mexican immigrant women has decreased due to their increasing age. Fifth, the levels of schooling of Mexican immigrant women have improved as a large number of them are attending school, including college or graduate school.

 

Annual labor income of Mexican workers in the United States exceeded $315 billion by the end of the third quarter of 2022

Jesús A. Cervantes González & Rodolfo Ostolaza, Nota de Remesas 13/2022

The note focuses on three topics: 1) The evolution of employment in the United States of Mexican immigrant workers, at the end of the third quarter of 2022, identifying the sectors with the best performance and in which there was a decrease; 2) Their average remunerations are quantified both in total and in the different sectors and distinguishing gender; and 3) The total labor income of such workers and the income obtained in the different sectors is calculated. A comparison is also made with figures for workers insured by the IMSS in Mexico.

 

Winners of the 2022 Central Bank Award Rodrigo Gómez


CEMLA's Board of Governors decided to award the 2022 Central Bank Award Rodrigo Gómez to Gianni Carotta Padilla, Miguel Mello Costa and Jorge Ponce Moreno for their study “Monetary policy communication and inflation expectations: new evidence about tone and readability”. In turn, the Board of Governors recognized Gustavo Silva Araujo and Wagner Piazza Gaglianone with the Second Place Award for their study “Machine learning methods for inflation forecasting in Brazil: new contenders versus classical models”. Finally, the Board decided to recognize two Honorable Mentions. One was awarded to Guillermo Carlomagno, Jorge Alberto Fornero and Andrés Esteban Sansone Alvo for their study “Toward a general framework for constructing and evaluating core inflation measures”. Another Honorary Mention was awarded to Carlos Alberto Zarazúa Juárez for his work “Understanding the Natural Rate of Interest for a Small Open Economy”.

 

Seminar on New Perspectives on Central Banking after the COVID Crisis


The Center for Latin American Monetary Studies and the Magyar Nemzeti Bank organized a Seminar on New Perspectives on Central Banking after the COVID Crisis. The Seminar was held in hybrid format on September 9, 2022. The event featured sessions on the current outlook for inflation, competitiveness and the long-term economic outlook, liquidity in the banking sector and financial markets under monetary tightening, and the experiences and implications in regulatory terms of Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs). The agenda is available here.

 

Shrinking Mexican immigrant population in the U.S.

Jesús A. Cervantes González & Denisse Jiménez, Nota de Remesas 12/2022

In recent years, the Mexican immigrant population in the United States has decreased significantly. This evolution has reflected a reduced migratory flow that has been surpassed by the voluntary and compulsive return of migrants and mortality in this population group. This contrasts with the general perception that a significant number of Mexicans are migrating to the United States. For several years in the United States there was an anti-Mexican sentiment on the part of some U.S. authorities and population groups, which may have discouraged the Mexican migratory flow.

 

By how much do remittances increase the income of households receiving them in Mexico?

Jesús A. Cervantes González & Rodolfo Ostolaza, Nota de Remesas 11/2022

The note quantifies the impact of remittances in increasing the income of the households that receive them. The results show that in 2021, remittances increased the average income of recipient households by 29.3%, but in the Southern region of the country they increased it by 40.4%. Likewise, remittances were the source of financing for 45.3% of the consumption expenditure of Mexican households receiving these resources from abroad.

 

Course on Climate Risk and Financial Stability


CEMLA’s Directorate of Financial Stability and the Toronto Centre organized the Course on Climate Risk and Financial Stability. The Meeting was held in digital format on July 18-22, 2022, and was attended by 26 representatives from 22 institutions and associates of CEMLA, representing 19 countries from the Americas, 2 European countries, and 1 Asian country. The event featured sessions on the understanding and management of environmental risk by financial institutions, climate scenario analysis and stress testing, the development of definitions and standards to identify green assets, and the adaptation of macroprudential frameworks to climate change risks. The agenda, available here, included sessions by Clive Briault, Barry Johnston and Jennifer Long from the Toronto Centre.

 

The annual wage bill of mexican immigrant workers in the United States exceeded $300 billion at the end of the second quarter of 2022

Jesús A. Cervantes González & Rodolfo Ostolaza, Nota de Remesas 10/2022

During the first half of 2022, U.S. employment of Mexican immigrant workers continued to improve, leading to an increase in their wage bill. At the end of the second quarter, the wage bill reached US$303.72 billion annually. The percentage of the wage bill earned by such Mexican immigrant workers that was sent to Mexico as remittances was 16.7% in the first half of 2022.

 

The Economy of Hispanics in the United States

Jesús A. Cervantes González & Rodolfo Ostolaza, Nota de Remesas 9/2022

In July 2021, the population of Hispanic origin in the United States was 62.6 million people, representing 18.9% of the U.S. population. The main population group among Hispanics is of Mexican origin, whose share is 62%. At the end of the first quarter of 2022, the annual wage bill of Hispanic workers reached 1,295,993 million dollars, a figure very close to Mexico's GDP.

 

The covid-19 pandemic and remittances in Mexico

Jesús A. Cervantes González & Rodolfo Ostolaza, Nota de Remesas 8/2022

The Covid-19 pandemic has had an enormous social impact in Mexico and has also affected the economy of individuals and households. The note documents the strong economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on Mexican individuals and households, both remittance recipients and non-recipients. It analyzes the negative impact on jobs and sources of income and how it led to higher health and funeral expenses. In order to cope with the economic impact, a significant segment of individuals and households had to borrow, reduce expenses and, to the extent possible, work more. The impact was greater on remittance recipients because they have less access to social security, as a result of the fact that they are more likely to work in informal activities. In this context, the remittances sent by their relatives contributed to alleviate the economic impact on the individuals and households receiving remittances and to overcome it.

 

Call for Papers: CEMLA/Dallas Fed Financial Stability Workshop


CEMLA is jointly organizing with the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas a Financial Stability Workshop, to be held in-person in Mexico City between December 12-13, 2022. Victoria Ivashina (Harvard Business School) will participate as keynote speaker. The organizers invite submissions of research papers in different fields of financial stability. The Call for Paper and all related information is available in the following link.

 

CEMLA economist presents at the 6th International Workshop on Financial Markets and Nonlinear Dynamics


Dr. Peter Karlström, from CEMLA’s Directorate of Financial Stability, presented the paper ”Credit Booms, Macroprudential Policy and Financial Crises” at the 6th International Workshop on “Financial Markets and Nonlinear Dynamics” (FMND) that took place in Paris on June 2-3, 2022. The program featured presentations by both scholars and finance professionals as well as keynote sessions with Professors James Hamilton, Esfandiar Maasoumi, and Barbara Rossi. The workshop was co-organized by Aix-Marseille University and University of Lille.

 

The U.S. wage bill of native-born and immigrant workers of Mexican origin is equivalent to 55 percentage points of Mexico's GDP

Jesús A. Cervantes González & Rodolfo Ostolaza, Nota de Remesas 7/2022

During the first quarter of 2022, employment in the United States of workers of Mexican origin, both native-born and immigrant, was 17.4 million people, which is equivalent to 83% of the total number of workers insured by the IMSS in Mexico. Likewise, in 2021, the wage bill of workers of Mexican origin in the United States reached 723 billion dollars, an amount equivalent to 55 percentage points of Mexico's GDP.

 

The 2020 Latin American Journal of Central Banking Best Article Prize


The CEMLA is pleased to announce the LAJCB Best Article Prize, which will be a yearly award sponsored by the CEMLA and awarded to an author(s) to recognize her or his outstanding scientific publication in the journal.

 

The Prize will be awarded to one research article and to one policy article, which will receive a compensation of 2500 USD and 1000 USD, respectively. Best articles are mainly determined by usage (number of times articles are downloaded) and citation (highest citation count) metrics.

 

The LAJCB Best Article Prize in 2020 was/were awarded to:

 

Carlos León for the paper “Detecting anomalous payments networks: A dimensionality-reduction approach”, Volume 1, Number 1-4, 100001 for the Best Research Article.

 

James J. McAndrews for the paper “The case for cash”, Volume 1, Number 1-4, 00004 for the Best Policy Article.

 

 

 

Upcoming activities

Seminario sobre Cuentas Satélite

 

Calendario 2023

 

 

Summary of Recent Activities

Seminario sobre diseño de escenarios de pruebas de estrés

 

 Conferencia de Estabilidad Financiera CEMLA/Dallas Fed

 

Curso FMI: Políticas del Sector Financiero

 

III Conferencia de Bancos Centrales sobre Riesgos Ambientales

 

Gestión Documental y Manejo de Archivos de Bancos Centrales

 

Curso sobre Riesgos Medioambientales y Estabilidad Financiera II

 

Curso sobre Estadísticas de Deuda Externa

 

Taller sobre Ciberseguridad

 

Simposio de Pagos Transfronterizos

 

 

 

 

Activities
Calendar for 2021Training and formation activities on economic and central banking topics

PublicationsSelection of publications that analyze the main financial and monetary topics of the central bank of the region.

Rodrigo Gómez
Central Bank Award Annual award for the preparation of studies that are of interest to the central bank.

CEMLA MEMBER
Central BanksThe external structure includes 50 members, 30 of which are associated.

Publications

Central Bank Forums