“In structuring what you want to do with your life and how you want to do it, think about how you want to treat your fellow humans’.
You are not supposed to know Peter Dittus (@Peterdittus), or the organization that employed him for 25 years, the BIS.
Even more so, Googling the latter would probably yield conspiracy theories, world schemes, and titles like “the secret bank that runs the world”.
Peter, who holds a PhD in Monetary Economics, was the Secretary General of the BIS for 12 years.
His story begins 30 years earlier. Disillusioned by the political nature of his work with the World Bank, Peter set out to build a career that could make a difference in the world. The value of transparency and sharing of ideas revealed themselves to be of the utmost importance to Peter and in our talk we delve deeper into his views on the unbalanced distribution of power that an institution such as the World Bank yields.
In 1992, Peter joined the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) as an economist and from 1995 assumed increasingly senior responsibilities within the organization. As a bank for central banks, the mission of the BIS to encourage international cooperation and support the pursuit of monetary and financial stability aligned with Peter’s professional and personal interests and in 2000 he became a member of the bank’s senior management team when he was appointed Deputy Secretary General.
In his 2017 book Revolution Required: The ticking time bombs of the G7 Model, Peter writes about the public’s justified loss of trust in the policies set forth by G7 countries. He demonstrates how key policies, presented as being in service of the public’s best interest, are in fact counter to it. His book encourages its readers to become well informed, critical thinking members of society. He advocates for a shift from a model of reckless and power driven decision making to one that supports an “economy for the common good”.
Most recently, Peter co-founded SFB Technologies. Partnering up with the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI), SFB is developing the technology platform to enable countries to issue digital currencies on the blockchain. RMI is in the process of becoming the first sovereign nation to issue a cryptocurrency called “Sovereign” (SOV) that will be legal tender.
In our sit down together Peter describes among other things the personal process that led to his decision to step down from his position at the World Bank . We also talk about:
Happy listening!