Money, it’s often said, is a form of trust and central banks are the custodians of that trust; it’s their job to guarantee that the money they issue maintains stable purchasing power. More recently, that’s been no easy task. Witness President Donald Trump’s attacks on the independence of the US Federal Reserve. The FT’s chief economics commentator, Martin Wolf, speaks to Agustín Carstens, former general manager of the Bank for International Settlements – the “central bank of central banks” – and one-time governor of the Bank of Mexico, to discuss what central banks can do to maintain trust in a fractured world and asks if they must modernise to maintain authority.

Martin Wolf is the FT’s chief economics commentator. You can read his columns here: https://www.ft.com/martin-wolf

Subscribe to The Economics Show on Apple, Spotify, Pocket Casts or wherever you listen.

Presented by Martin Wolf. Produced by Mischa Frankl-Duval. Manuela Saragosa is the executive producer. Original music from Breen Turner, and sound design by Simon Panayi.

Register for a November 28 live webinar on what the UK Budget will mean for your money and put your questions to FT journalists Claer Barrett, Stuart Kirk, Tej Parikh and special guest, tax expert Dan Neidle. Get your free pass now at ft.com/budgetwebinar

The webinar will also be broadcast as a bonus edition on two FT podcasts: Claer's Money Clinic and the weekly UK politics show Political Fix, presented by George Parker while Lucy Fisher is on maternity leave.

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

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