Central bank websites: technologies and frameworks

An informal research on web server technologies used by central banks was conducted in 2014. The study used technology information profiler tools that collect information on the usage of various technologies for building and running websites. Free research data on aspects of the Internet like market share of webservers, OS, scripting languages, and content technologies were also used. Specifically, the service provided by Builtwith, w3techs, and NetCraft were used to pore through the techs used by central banks that appear in the list of the Bank for International Settlements.

The study revealed the following:
1. More than 80% of the central bank websites use either Apache or IIS.
2. 40% of the central bank websites use ASP or ASP.Net, while 20% use PHP.
2. Of the 190 central banks websites, only 26 use Java.

In other developments, recent indications point to the increasing use of open-source technologies in central bank websites.  Moreover. the recent award won by the Bank of Canada as the best central bank website show that open-source technologies can be an effective web technology solution.