BRI

La BRI a publié le 6 mai 2022 les résultats de son enquête annuelle sur les MNBC, menée fin 2021 auprès de 81 banques centrales. Sous le titre général « Gaining momentum », les principaux enseignements de cette enquête peuvent se résumer comme suit :

  • Nine out of 10 [90%] central banks are exploring CBDCs, and more than half are now developing them or running concrete experiments. In particular, work on retail CBDCs has moved to more advanced stages.
  • Both Covid-19 and the emergence of stablecoins and other cryptocurrencies have accelerated the work on CBDCs – especially in advanced economies, where central banks say that financial stability has increased in importance as a motivation for their CBDC involvement.
  • Globally, more than two thirds of central banks consider that they are likely to or might possibly issue a retail CBDC in either the short or medium term.
  • Work on wholesale CBDCs is increasingly driven by reasons related to cross-border payments efficiency. Central banks consider CBDCs as capable of alleviating key pain points such as the limited operating hours of current payment systems and the length of current transaction

BCE

La BCE a publié le 28 avril 2022 un call for expression of interest in providing prototypes for digital euro project payments solutions (date-limite de réponse : 20 mai 2022). La durée de cet exercice de prototypage est estimée à un an, selon un calendrier résumé dans le schéma ci-dessous.

HONG KONG

L’autorité monétaire de Hong Kong (HKMA), qui avait lancé en octobre 2021 une première consultation publique sur la MNBC de détail sur la base d’un discussion paper intitulé e-HKD: A technical perspective a lancé le 27 avril 2022 une deuxième consultation sur la base d’un discussion paper intitulé e-HKD : A policy and design perspective dont l’objet peut se résumer comme suit :

As a new electronic form of central bank money, e-HKD could bring both benefits and challenges to Hong Kong’s currency and financial stability, as well as its role as an international financial centre. With appropriate functionalities and attributes, e-HKD could help position our city for the challenges of alternative units of account (i.e. stablecoins) dominating in Hong Kong, even though such possibility remains remote. The potential programmability aspect of e-HKD could also enable innovative applications (e.g. smart contracts), provided that the associated challenges (e.g. programme glitches) are properly addressed.

(…) While there is a concern that potential holders’ switching from deposit to e-HKD could lead to bank disintermediation especially during a financial crisis period, adversely affecting banks’ funding and their capacity to supply credit, the run risk for banks in Hong Kong would be very low in any case, given depositors’ confidence in the Deposit Protection Scheme and the HKMA’s prudential regulations and oversight. Appropriate design choices (i.e. unremunerated vs. remunerated) and adequate safeguards (e.g. maximum account balance) could help address the risk, though further in-depth considerations would be required as an overly restrictive scheme could discourage potential users of e-HKD

(…) To the extent that e-HKD acts as the digital version of Hong Kong dollar cash, its legal mandate and legal tender status would logically be expected to align with that of existing Hong Kong dollar notes and coins.

FMI

Le FMI a publié le 6 mai 2022 un Working Paper Digital Money and Central Bank Operations dont les principaux messages peuvent se résumer comme suit.

The rise of new and proposed monetary vehicles, including CBDC, stablecoins, payment service providers etc., are unprecedented. An important question for central banks is the extent to which these innovations upend the role of and implementation of monetary policy. The paper focuses on the interest rate channel and if digital money (especially CBDC) will change monetary policy and central bank operations. We argue that new policy instruments make sense only to the extent that there is limited substitutability between the various payment sectors. We analyze trends in currency-in-circulation, and how it may impact central bank’s seigniorage, monetary base, and transactional velocity of digital money if money demand declines. Liquidity outside the monetary base will also be important to understand.

DELOITTE

Deloitte a publié le 29 avril une étude intitulée CBDCs: new strategic perspectives for central banks, financial services providers and regulators.  Cette étude souligne l’importance d’une coopération entre les parties prenantes.

“Central banks, financial services providers and regulators should consider CBDCs as new opportunities rather than threats.

  • Central banks should aim to anticipate future needs of Financial Service Providers based on consumer trends such as digital payments and increased cross-border commerce.
  • Financial services providers should understand the commercial opportunities associated with CBDCs and stablecoins, anticipate risks today and implement initial strategies and feasible use cases with digital assets.
  • Regulators should define common regulation of digital assets and build on what already exists in advanced countries. They should emphasise setting new standards on data privacy, financial security and environmental footprints.

Nevertheless, the success of the digital assets’ revolution may lie in the collaboration of these three players and the consideration of a bottom-up approach to consumers expectations. Much more remains to be done, but central banks, financial actors and regulators are encouraged to consider the potential impacts of CBDCs in order to be prepared for any change in the global banking ecosystem, so that they can be one step ahead”.