Fostering innovation brings with it different challenges depending on the level of development, market size or even the geographic position of a country. When compared to the frontrunners, small markets face barriers that are much more challenging than…
The concept of partnering with an alternative international payments scheme that allows for domestic scheme independence while sharing common technology is a model that provides scale, global acceptance, and standardizes the rules for international transactions.
In July 2021, the National Bank of Ethiopia launched its first ever National Digital Payments Strategy, an ambitious initiative that aims to build an innovative payments ecosystem in support of a cash-lite and inclusive economy. Central Bank Payments…
Creating a cross-border payments ecosystem that delivers collaborative value between authorised financial institutions across the Southern African Development Community is possible through a new, world-first African payments scheme that is fully operational.…
This year, the Digital Frontiers Institute convened the first CBDC Workshop focusing on emerging market and developing economies. The workshop aimed to: Firm up the understanding of the definition of CBDCs; Increase understanding that the CBDC “pathway”…
In September, Visa published a pair of CBDC reports about Universal Payment Channels (UPCs). The specifics of UPCs are laid out in the research paper Universal Payment Channels: An Interoperability Platform for Digital Currencies. The second paper, Cross-border…
Project Sand Dollar is a Central Bank of The Bahamas initiative to promote more inclusive access to regulated payments and other financial services for unbanked and underbanked communities and socio-economic groups. Additionally, by introducing this retail…
In recent years, at the Bank of Israel we have resolved to lead game-changing initiatives in the payments space. Our intent is not only to close gaps that have emerged between Israel and the global payments scene, but also to proactively lead in areas…
A conversation between Samia Ferradj, Head of Sales Europe, FX Payments at StoneX and Jean-Michel Godeffroy, Former Director General of Payment Systems & Market Infrastructure at the European Central Bank and Chairman of the Central Bank Payments Conference
The National Bank of Georgia (NBG) has embarked on a journey to develop a new fintech-friendly regulatory toolkit under the umbrella of the Open Regulation Framework (ORF). The risk-based supervisory approach, which is embedded in the DNA of NBG, was…
