Bank of Albania: In Conversation with Ledia Bregu, Part Two

In part two of our interview with Ledia Bregu, Director of Payment Systems, Accounting and Finance Department for the Bank of Albania (BoA), the conversation turned to AIPS EURO, a new payments infrastructure launched in 2022, Albania’s EU membership…

Discover Global Network: Advances in Technology Bring a World of New Approaches to Payments

How can central banks, banks and domestic payment schemes utilize P2P digital wallet solutions to gain access to traditional point-of-sale methods of payment, giving more local control over domestic payments, while easing the technical and operational…

Bank of Albania: In Conversation with Ledia Bregu, Part One

The Feature article in the August 2020 issue of Central Bank Payments News (CBPN) was authored by the Bank of Albania’s Ledia Bregu. At the time, Albania was less than half-way through its National Retail Payments Strategy, 2018–2023, an ambitious document…

Unifits: Efficiency Meets Reliability - The Underestimated Risk of Introducing New Payment Schemas

Does centralized and industry-specific test automation for FMIs effectively solve multiple problems? Jonathan Misler of Unifits asks ChatGPT a series of questions to get an objective view on Unifits' products and whether they solve the problems they promise.

Mojaloop: Achieving Financial Equity Across Asia and Africa Requires a Digital Approach to Financial Inclusion

Named after the Swahili word for “one,” the Mojaloop open-source software project was established in 2017 by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to address the lack of guaranteed inclusiveness and interoperability within nations’ payment systems to allow…

Digital Pound Foundation: Advocating for a Well-Designed Digital Pound

The Digital Pound Foundation (DPF) is a non-profit organisation that advocates for a well-designed digital pound, enabling both public and private sectors to fully engage in the design, development, and adoption of a digital Pound, thus contributing to…

G20 Roadmap for Enhanced Cross-Border Payments: What We Have Achieved Collectively and What is Next

Since the G20 roadmap was launched in autumn 2020, considerable progress has been achieved across 19 different building blocks (BBs). The authorities internationally have developed a strong understanding of the issues, taken stock of emerging solutions…

SEACEN: Eye on The South East Asian Central Banks Research and Training Centre

Currently, SEACEN reaches out to 35 central banks (19 member central banks, 8 associate members, and 8 observers), and the Centre collaborates with 28 strategic partners in the areas of macroeconomic and monetary policy management, financial stability,…

The AFI’s South Asia Region Financial Inclusion Initiative: A Regional Commitment to Inclusive Financial Services

AFI’s eight South Asian member institutions came together at the Global Policy Forum (GPF) in September 2022 to launch the South Asia Region Financial Inclusion Initiative (SARFII). With AFI coordinating and facilitating the initiative, members are collaborating…

Why CBDC is also a Commercial Bank Digital Currency

While the first two words of CBDC relate to central banks, they are not the sole stakeholders of the technology. But where do commercial banks and other financial institutions fit into this disruptive transformation, what will their role look like, and…