Eight banks, eight mandates, one calendar
A currency is a claim on an economy, and a central bank is the one that sets the price of holding it. These eight decide the rate behind the eight majors. Here is what each of them has set, when it meets again, and the thing it says it is watching.
Rates and meeting dates as the research last recorded them, Wed Sep 23, 2026, 9:14pm.
The next three meetings
Thu, 24 Sept 2026
SNB
CHF, now at 0.00%
Tue, 29 Sept 2026
RBA
AUD, now at 4.35%
Wed, 28 Oct 2026
Fed
USD, now at 3.75 to 4.00%
Dates as the banks publish them. What a meeting does to a currency score, and the event risk it puts on a setup, is inside the app.
The eight, one by one
Every bank has a target it has to hit and a set of numbers it says it is steering on. Read a release against that target and you know whether it moves the bank. Read it against the headline and you mostly learn what a newsroom finds interesting.
- USD3.75 to 4.00%
Federal Reserve (Fed)
US dollar
- Target
- Maximum employment and stable prices, with inflation at 2% over the longer run
- What else moves the currency
- The world's main reserve currency. Tends to gain when markets turn cautious.
- Next meeting
- Wed, 28 Oct 2026
- EUR2.50%
European Central Bank (ECB)
Euro
- Target
- Price stability: inflation at 2% over the medium term
- What else moves the currency
- Driven by the gap between ECB and Fed policy, growth in the euro area and energy prices.
- JPY1.25%
Bank of Japan (BoJ)
Japanese yen
- Target
- Price stability: inflation at 2%
- What else moves the currency
- A safe haven that tends to gain when markets turn cautious, and a common funding currency in calm ones.
- GBP3.75%
Bank of England (BoE)
British pound
- Target
- Inflation at 2%, the target set by the government
- What else moves the currency
- Moves on UK inflation and labour data, and on how far the Bank is willing to go.
- Next meeting
- Thu, 5 Nov 2026
- CHF0.00%
Swiss National Bank (SNB)
Swiss franc
- Target
- Price stability: inflation below 2% a year
- What else moves the currency
- A safe haven that tends to gain when markets turn cautious.
- Next meeting
- Thu, 24 Sept 2026
- AUD4.35%
Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA)
Australian dollar
- Target
- Inflation between 2 and 3%, and full employment
- What else moves the currency
- Tied to risk appetite and commodities, and to demand from China.
- Next meeting
- Tue, 29 Sept 2026
- NZD2.75%
Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ)
New Zealand dollar
- Target
- Inflation between 1 and 3%, aiming for 2%
- What else moves the currency
- Tied to risk appetite and to what New Zealand exports, dairy first.
- CAD2.25%
Bank of Canada (BoC)
Canadian dollar
- Target
- Inflation at 2%, the middle of a 1 to 3% range
- What else moves the currency
- Tied to oil prices and to the US economy, its largest trading partner.
Hawkish, dovish, and the word that matters more
Hawkish means leaning towards higher rates, dovish towards lower ones. Useful words, and less useful than the one nobody puts in a headline: expected. A currency moves on the path the market thinks the bank will take, not on the rate it set this afternoon.
That is why a cut can lift a currency. If the market had priced two cuts and the bank delivers one while sounding unconvinced about the next, the expected path just moved up, whatever the decision itself said.
So the question to ask of every statement is narrow: did this change what the market expects the bank to do next, and by how much. Everything else is commentary.
Where this sits in a score
The bank, its stance and its rate level make up the largest part of the fundamentals pillar, which is worth up to 35 points of a currency score out of 100. Members see each bank as a card: the last decision, the tone, the focus, the next meeting and what a change would do.
The longer piece on what a bank steers on is in the reading corner: what a central bank steers on.
Questions about the banks
Which central bank belongs to which major currency?
The Federal Reserve (USD), the European Central Bank (EUR), the Bank of Japan (JPY), the Bank of England (GBP), the Swiss National Bank (CHF), the Reserve Bank of Australia (AUD), the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (NZD) and the Bank of Canada (CAD).
What do hawkish and dovish mean?
Hawkish is leaning towards higher rates, usually because inflation worries the bank. Dovish is leaning towards lower rates, usually because growth or jobs worry it more. Both describe a direction of travel, not the rate itself.
Why can a rate cut make a currency rise?
Because the market had already priced more. If two cuts were expected and the bank delivers one while sounding unconvinced about the next, the expected path has moved up even though the rate has come down.
When does each bank meet next?
The next meeting for each of the eight is in the list on this page, and it follows the research, so a decision shows up here on the day it is made. The rates and the gaps between them