New money: Central banks lay out operating manual for digital cash

LONDON - A group of central banks sketched out a potential operating manual for digital cash on Thursday as they aim to strike a balance between keeping up with cryptocurrencies and concerns that the new technology could upend commercial lenders.

Worried that the explosion of bitcoin and its ilk could weaken their control of money, policymakers from Beijing to Washington are exploring central bank digital currencies, known as CBDCs.

And while a widely-used digital dollar or euro may still be years away, work by central banks is gathering pace as consumers increasingly ditch coins and notes in favor of digital payments on debit or credit cards and mobile phones.

The seven central banks - including those in the United States, Britain and the ECB in the euro zone, but not China - said publicly-used "retail" CBDC must harness both public and private players to mesh with existing payment systems.

The tech should be useable with existing domestic payments systems, with strategies for adoption tailored to on-the-ground economic conditions, said the central banks, working alongside the Bank for International Settlements.

The existing financial system must be given time to adjust to the introduction of CBDC, they said, flagging risks of what could amount to slow-motion bank runs if commercial bank customers suddenly shifted savings to the new tech.

"Regardless of the design, developing and running a CBDC system would be a major undertaking for a central bank," they said, stressing the involvement of private operators must be closely monitored to ensure public trust in the tech.

STABILITY RISKS

Unlike cryptocurrencies like bitcoin that are usually run by private actors, CBDCs would be equivalent to cash, issued and backed by central banks. They differ from the electronic money used in billions of transactions daily that is mostly funnelled via commercial banks.

The People's Bank of China is the most advanced among major economies on CBDCs, and is planning its biggest digital yuan trial at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.

Meanwhile, the US Federal Reserve will "soon" release research examining the costs and benefits of a CBDC, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said last week.

Commercial banks, fretting that a retail-focused CBDC could cannibalize their deposit bases, are trying to exert influence on their design.

The central banks sought to downplay the threat of retail-focused CBDC to lenders' business models.

"Our analysis suggests the impacts on bank disintermediation and lending could be manageable for the banking sector," they said, with any impact likely limited in "plausible" levels of adoption.

-reuters-

Libra partners reconsider as governments grumble: report

SAN FRANCISCO, United States - Mastercard, Visa and other financial partners being enlisted to oversee Facebook-backed cryptocurrency Libra are having second thoughts as regulators unleash ire on the project, according to a report Tuesday.

A Libra Association created by Facebook to independently manage the digital money still had its initial group of backers on Tuesday.

But a Wall Street Journal report said some of those on it were reconsidering their roles due to opposition expressed by governments digging for information about the project.

Visa referred AFP to comments made by chief executive Alfred Kelly in an interview in August with CNBC in which he said the company had signed a non-binding letter of intent with the association but was "not a member of anything."

Kelly went on to say Visa would not join the association if it isn't satisfied when it comes to complying with regulations.

The association, which is working on a charter that will outline involvement by founding members, declined to comment and Mastercard did not immediately respond to a query.

The head of the Libra Association said last week that the project's leaders aimed to "reassure" regulators worried about the virtual money. 

Bertrand Perez, director general of the Geneva-based non-profit association, said Libra will be backed by a basket of currency assets and short-term government bonds to avoid the wild swings seen with bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

Hashing out details

Facebook's plans for Libra have meet with concern by governments and critics of the social network behemoth, whose reputation has been tarnished by its role in spreading fake information and extremist videos.

Last month, France's economy and finance minister Bruno Le Maire warned that under current circumstances Libra posed a threat to the "monetary sovereignty" of governments and could not be authorized in Europe.

Officials have also raised concerns about how the currency would be regulated, particularly how it would comply with regulations about combatting money laundering and financing of terrorism. 

"We are carrying out a normal course of work with regulators to show them that, in terms of anti-money laundering, the (Libra) system will be at least equivalent to the conventional monetary system," Perez said.

Besides Facebook, backers of Libra include payment giants Visa, MasterCard and PayPal, as well as ride-hailing apps Lyft and Uber.

The Libra Association is set to expand, as over 100 companies and organizations have expressed an interest in joining, Perez said.

Facebook has promoted Libra as an opportunity to provide online commerce and financial services at minimal cost to more than a billion "unbanked" people -- adults without bank accounts or those who use services outside the banking system such as payday loans to make ends meet.

In leaked comments from a meeting of Facebook employees in July, Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said he remained optimistic for Libra despite harsh comments from public officials in several countries.

"The public things, I think, tend to be a little more dramatic," he said.

"But a bigger part of it is private engagement with regulators around the world, and those, I think, often, are more substantive and less dramatic... That's where a lot of the discussions and details get hashed out on things."

source: news.abs-cbn.com