Where are the headquarters of the Asian Development Bank?

The correct answer is B, Basel. The Bank for International Settlements was set up in 1930 at Basel in Switzerland and still works from there, which is why the capital standards drafted under its roof are called the Basel norms. Option A is wrong because Geneva hosts the World Trade Organization, the World Health Organization and the International Labour Organization, but not the BIS. Option C is wrong because Vienna is the seat of the International Atomic Energy Agency and of OPEC, which have nothing to do with banking supervision. Option D is wrong because Frankfurt is the home of the European Central Bank, a central bank of the euro area and itself a member of the BIS, not its host city. Fix Basel with both the BIS and the Basel Committee.

The correct answer is A, 1930. The BIS was founded in 1930, which makes it the oldest international financial institution in the world, older than the Bretton Woods institutions by fourteen years. Option B is wrong because 1944 is the year of the Bretton Woods conference, which led to the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, both of which began work in 1945 and 1946. Option C is wrong because 1955 marks no founding of this kind in international finance. Option D is wrong because 1974 is the year the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision was created by the central bank governors of the Group of Ten countries, which is hosted by the BIS but is not the BIS itself. Keep 1930 and 1974 apart in your notes.

The correct answer is C, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision. The committee was created in 1974 by the central bank governors of the Group of Ten countries, sits at the Bank for International Settlements in Basel, and drafts the standards that national regulators then adopt for their own banks. Option A is wrong because the IMF watches balance of payments and exchange rate stability and lends to countries in difficulty; it does not write bank capital standards. Option B is wrong because the Financial Action Task Force, based in Paris, sets standards against money laundering and terrorist financing. Option D is wrong because the World Trade Organization deals with trade rules from Geneva. Remember that the Basel norms become binding only when a central bank such as the Reserve Bank of India adopts them.

The correct answer is B, 1966. The ADB was established in 1966 to lend for development in Asia and the Pacific, and India was one of its founding members, which is a fact papers like to pair with the year. Option A is wrong because 1956 is associated in Indian banking history with the nationalisation of life insurance and the second five year plan, not with the ADB. Option C is wrong because 1976 is the year the Regional Rural Banks Act came into force in India, a domestic milestone. Option D is wrong because 1986 saw the founding of the Indira Gandhi National Open University and other national bodies, again unrelated. Remember the sequence 1930 for the BIS, 1944 for Bretton Woods, 1966 for the ADB and 2016 for the AIIB.

The correct answer is C, China. The AIIB was proposed by China in 2013 and began operations in January 2016 with its headquarters at Beijing, and China holds the largest share in its capital. Option A is wrong, but only just: India is the second largest shareholder of the AIIB and has been among its largest borrowers, for metro rail, rural roads, power and water supply projects. Option B is wrong because Russia, though a large shareholder, stands below India in the order. Option D is wrong because Japan is not a member of the AIIB at all; Japan and the United States are instead the two largest shareholders of the Asian Development Bank. Hold the pair China first and India second for the AIIB.