The staff of the BIS, in particular those providing secretariat support to the committees, have as their primary function to support the cooperation of others. This makes the BIS quite a different type of organisation from both the IMF and the World Bank group, though perhaps less different from the OECD and the WTO.
Issues having to do with the legal infrastructure underpinning the international financial system have also been of growing interest to the Basle community, although until now ad hoc procedures have been relied upon rather than a standing committee directed to such issues.