In France, the past few weeks have been marked by meetings of the CNMP and the publication by ANSSI of security recommendations for generative AI. Internationally, there have been two "Summits" organized respectively by the BIS and OMFIF's Digital Monetary Institute, and the launch by the BIS, along with seven major central banks, of the "Agora" project around the concept of unified ledger, in a context where tokenization is attracting increasing attention.
1- France
1.1 -Comité national des moyens de paiement (CNMP)
The CNMP's WG A ("European Integration") met :
- May 13, on the revision of the DSP (DSP3/RSP). After an update on the legislative work, the exchange of views focused on the definitions of authorization and gross negligence, the reimbursement of users in the event of identity theft, and the liability of telecom operators.
- May 16, on the digital euro. After an update on legislative and Eurosystem work, the exchange of views focused on the project timetable, the holding limit, the offline mechanism and the regulatory framework for privacy and AML/CFT issues.
1.2 - French Information Systems Security Agency (ANSSI)
On April 29, ANSSI published a guide of security recommendations for a generative AI system. This guide " aims to make administrations and companies aware of the risks associated with generative AI, and to promote best practices to be implemented from the design and training phase of an AI model through to the deployment and use phase in production ".
2 - International
2.1 - Conferences
From May 6 to 8, BIS organized the fourth edition of its "BIS Innovation Summit". BIS Innovation Summit ". The conference's packed program included the following highlights:
- Opening address by Agustin Carstens, BIS General Manager " Technical innovation: small steps and giant leaps" ;
- Keynote by François Villeroy de Galhau, Governor of the Banque de France and President of the BIS: " Innovation and central banks: the sooner, the better ";
- A round table on MNBCs ("The road ahead for retail The road ahead for retail versus wholesale CBDCs"), with the governors of the Bundesbank, the Banca d'Italia and the Reserve Bank of India;
- A round table on tokenisation (" Tokenisation and smart contracts") ;
- A presentation of the Agora project.
NB Videos of all sessions at the BIS Innovation Summit are available on the BIS website.
OMFIF's Digital Monetary Institute organized its "Digital Money Summit" on May 15 and 16. Digital Money Summit " on the theme of " New engines and new rules ". The summary of the debates published by OMFIF shows that they revolved around three ideas:
- Momentum builds for tokenisation in 2024,
- Cash remains among missing links
- CBDCs are not the only option for retail payments development.
In his opening speech, Jon Cunliffe, former Deputy Governor of the Bank of England, spoke in particular of the concept of the unified ledger (which is at the heart of the BIS's Agora project) and tokenisation, pointing out that "The tokenisation of wholesale financial transactions in capital and currency markets is likely to be the first to see the widespread use of tokenisation, but it would be a mistake to ignore the promise that tokenisation has nothing to offer retail".
2.2 -Regulation of cryptos
On April 9, the BIS published a report by the Financial Stability Institute entitled " Stablecoins: regulatory responses to their promise of stability "which concludes that " As stablecoins become more widely adopted, their relationship with other forms of digital assets will need to be further explored (...) Moreover, ensuring the interoperability of stablecoins with CBDCs and other digital assets is key to promoting an integrated financial system" .
Press review
- Hubert de Vauplane's LinkedIn post on the Financial Stability Institute report.
- LCH SA receives regulatory approval to clear Bitcoin index derivatives | LCH Group (April 8)
- LCH gets green light to clear Bitcoin index derivatives (finextra.com) (April 8)
2.3 - Central bank digital currencies (CBDCs)
2.3.1 - Among the many recent publications on MNBCs, we should mention :
Three papers from ECB experts
- Macroeconomic modelling of CBDC (29 pages)
- Transactional demand for CBDC (73 pages)
- CBDC and monetary policy implementation (53 pages)
A paper by Bundesbank experts
A paper by FED experts
- Financial Stability Implications of CBDC (48 pages)
An IMF paper
Two articles published by OMFIF
- Transition to digital payments must be 'carefully managed' (author: Thibault Pelé)
- Is offline functionality worth the effort?
A report from the World Economic Forum (on MNBC wholesale)
2.3.2 - BIS's Agora project attracts considerable attention
On April 3, the BIS announced the launch of the Agora project with seven central banks (including the Banque de France, representing the Eurosystem).
As stated in the Banque de France press release of April 4, " The Agorá project (which means "market place" in ancient Greek) builds on the unified ledger concept developed by the BIS and will investigate how commercial bank money tokens can effectively integrate with wholesale central bank money tokens, in a public-private and programmable digital infrastructure. This could improve the functioning of the monetary system and provide new solutions using programmability via smart contracts, while retaining the two-tier structure of this monetary system."
A few weeks later, on May 14, the BIS announced the launch of a "call for participation". call for participation "for the Agora project from private sector financial institutions.
Press review
- François Villeroy de Galhau's LinkedIn post on the Agora project
- BIS and Banque de France to test blockchain for cross-border payments | Les Echos
- BIS, the bank of central banks, wants to accelerate the "tokenization" of payments (latribune.fr)
- Next Step for Cross-Border Payments: Tokenization - PaymentsJournal
- Central banks explore tokenisation of cross-border payments (finextra.com)
2.3.2 - MNBC news from selected countries
The most notable news in recent weeks has been from New Zealand, with the launch of a consultation on a retail MNBC project(digital cash), from Switzerland, with the launch of phase III of the Helvetia project on wholesale MNBC, and from China, with a number of articles again illustrating the extension of e-Yuan use cases (still in the pilot phase).
New Zealand
On April 17, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) launched a consultation on its digital cash : " We are looking at the possibility of issuing digital cash. It would be an electronic version of cash, issued by us, but it would not replace cash".
The consultation document is accompanied by a Storyboard "and a series of complementary documents that present various facets of the project in greater detail:
- Designing a digital cash ecosystem
- Designing privacy into digital cash
- Innovation and reliability opportuntities for digital cash
- Inclusion opportunities for digital cash
- CBDC strategic design insights dossier
Switzerland
- Towards the future monetary system (snb.ch)
- Swiss National Bank Chair reflects on wholesale CBDC pilots. Retail too risky - Ledger Insights
- CBDC Broadcast #24 - Project Helvetia III: Settling Tokenized Assets with a Wholesale CBDC
China
- China produces CBDC guide for tourists in English - Ledger Insights
- Hong Kong Monetary Authority - Expanding the cross-boundary e-CNY pilot in Hong Kong
- Is converting a digital yuan salary out of CBDC a feature or a bug? - Ledger Insights
United Kingdom
- Innovation vs Access to Cash: Priorities for a Retail CBDC - Digital Pound Foundation
- Modernising the trains and rails of UK payments - speech by Sarah Breeden | Bank of England
Australia
Brazil
Russia
Thailand
2.4 - Instant payment systems: focus on Canada and the United States
Payments Canada issued a press release on April 16 announcing that the instant payment system project Real-Time Rail instant payment system project (which has been severely delayed) is "back on track with new momentum and new partners" (IBM Canada and CGI). The project's new timetable calls for "industry tests" in 2026.
In the United States, the Payments Journal reported on May 3 that FedNow adoption is relatively slow Instant but Slow: The Remaining Hurdles for FedNow Adoption
2.5 - Cyber risk
In recent weeks, there has been a great deal of news on cyber risk, with a G7 exercise, the launch of the Raven project by the BIS Innovation Hub, and a speech by Sasha Mills (Bank of England) on the subject of operational resilience.
