Central banks around the world took centre stage in tackling the global financial crisis and continue to play an important role in supporting economic recovery worldwide. At the same time, developments in the international financial system, new technologies and secular trends are posing new challenges for the global economy and, as a result, for central banks as well. Against this backdrop, the Bundesbank will dedicate its 2017 Spring Conference to analysing the benefits and boundaries of non-standard monetary policy, the political economy aspects of the interactions between central banks and governments, and the impact of new financial technologies on the future of central banking. The conference precedes a high-level policy symposium on the same topics the next day.