Australia, Malaysia Singapore join forces to test digital currencies ‘blueprint’ but US remains ‘sceptical’
- The Bank for International Settlements’ project will look at allowing institutions to transact in the digital currencies (CBDCs) issued by the other central banks
- China, Hong Kong, Thailand and the United Arab Emirates are working on a separate project to study the feasibility of using CBDCs for cross-border payments
Central banks in Australia, Singapore, Malaysia and South Africa will join forces to test the use of multiple central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) on a shared platform for cross border payments and settlements.
Led by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) Innovation Hub in Singapore, Project Dunbar is aimed at allowing financial institutions to transact with each other in the digital currencies issued by participating central banks, cutting the time and cost of transactions, the BIS said.
The development, which is in collaboration with technology partners in the public and private sector, is expected to publish its results early next year.
“The findings on how a common platform can be governed effectively and managed efficiently will shape the blueprint of the next generation payments systems,” said Sopnendu Mohanty, chief fintech officer at the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
As economies become cashless, around 86 per cent of 65 central banks have carried out digital currency research, while 60 per cent are conducting experiments or proof-of-concepts, the BIS said.
In the race for financial technology innovation, central banks in the United States, Britain, France, Canada, Sweden, Japan, Russia, South Korea and Singapore, plus a host of other countries and the European Central Bank, have announced their considerations for CBDCs in various forms in recent years.
“Central banks must address the needs of the future digital economy and should offer the digital economy a modern means of payment.”
Cross-border use for retail purposes could set the foundation for wider use down the road
IDC expects countries such as Sweden and South Korea to move forward with CBDCs, while it predicts by 2025 some 20 per cent of consumer loans will be disbursed via digital currencies since mass adoption will take at least three to five years.
“The digital yuan is initially targeted at facilitating daily domestic consumption. However its cross-border use for retail purposes could set the foundation for wider use down the road,” said Sun Yu, vice-chairman and chief executive at the Bank of China (Hong Kong). “There is huge potential for the digital yuan in trade finance and for further internalisation.”
However Christopher Waller, member of the board of governors at the US Federal Reserve, said last month that he was sceptical about whether there was a compelling need to create a digital currency.
The emergence of private digital assets, such as stablecoins, in recent years has created an attractive payment instrument because the value can be tied to one or more assets, such as a sovereign currency, said Walker.
Stablecoins, as their name suggests, are a type of cryptocurrency whose value is pegged to another asset class, such as a fiat currency or gold, to stabilise its price.
Payments using such stablecoins might also be “free”, in the sense that there will be no fee required to initiate or receive a payment, he added. This means that if one or more stablecoin arrangement can develop a significant user base, they could become a major challenger to banks for processing payments, Waller said.
The US does not see so much reason for a change because the dollar is very dominant in international payments
“The private sector is already developing payment alternatives to compete with the banking system,” Waller added. “Hence, it seems unnecessary for the Federal Reserve to create a CBDC to drive down payment rents. It seems to me, however, that private-sector innovations might reduce the mark-up charged by banks more effectively than a CBDC would.”
Chair Jerome Powell recently announced that the US Federal Reserve will publish a discussion paper on the benefits and costs of creating a CBDC, although he made it clear that the US dollar is not going to be replaced by a CBDC.
“At the end of the day, the US does not see so much reason for a change because the dollar is very dominant in international payments.”
