The Central Bank of the Russian Federation as a Subject and Its Currency Swap Agreements as a Source of International Monetary Law Within the Framework of International Financial Mechanisms

This article evaluates changes in the powers of central banks, in particular the Bank of Russia, as a result of the extensive use of international financial mechanisms for foreign liquidity extension. This mechanism is an integral part of the economic and financial integration of states, since such integration cannot proceed without mutatis mutandis harmonization and coordination of regulation in the sphere of monetary policy and regulation and control of money circulation both at the national and international levels. And since these powers are transferred to central banks by relevant state authorities within the framework of the national jurisdiction, these financial institutions become not only subjects of international law, but also swap agreements between them become sources of this field of law. In order to identify and study this phenomenon, this article reveals features of the instruments used in international treaties to form international financial mechanisms to extend foreign liquidity, such as the European Stabilization Mechanism, where the European Central Bank plays a special role, as well as the Treaty for the Establishment of a BRICS Contingent Reserve Arrangement, which takes a central place in this work. International financial mechanisms for foreign liquidity extension are institutions based on international treaties governing the procedure for providing parties with necessary foreign currency, i.e. foreign liquidity. The core methods of this work are analysis and synthesis, by which necessary characteristics were identified, allowing to determine the status of the central bank in international law and to reveal the nature of swap agreements between central banks. One of these international financial institutions’ legal bases granted the ECB powers, which are recognized by the European Court of Justice as marks of international subjectivity of the ECB. The instruments to achieve objectives of the above-mentioned treaties are, as a rule, currency swap agreements, which according to these treaties should be entered into between central banks of the parties in the treaty. The author comes to the conclusion that since international treaties transfer powers to implement their goals to central banks, central banks, including the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, acquire international legal personality, and swap agreements entered into between the Bank of Russia and central banks of other BRICS Member States, being instruments to achieve objectives of the treaty, are sources of international law. Moreover, representatives of central banks of the BRICS countries participate in the formation of international bodies of the BRICS Contingent Reserve Arrangement with the power to make decisions on dollar liquidity extension in exchange for national currencies of the BRICS countries.

Central bank, public international law, international monetary law, currency swap agreement, international financial mechanisms, European Central Bank, BRICS, Contingent reserve arrangement, international finance, international Reserves, Monetary Union, financial stability, FX regulation

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