The OMFIF Podcast

Lessons learned from the first retail CBDC deployments

Algorand, a blockchain company and central bank digital currency platform, join the Digital Monetary Institute’s editor, Lewis McLellan, to discuss the latest trends in CBDC development. Naveed Ihsanullah, vice-president of engineering research, Pietro Grassano, business solutions director for Europe, and Co-Pierre Georg, associate professor at the University of Cape Town and member of Algorand’s economic advisory committee, share their thoughts on some of the key themes in CBDCs: decentralisation, monetary sovereignty, privacy and financial inclusion. Many of their insights are drawn from their 2022 report, ‘Issuing Central Bank Digital Currency on Algorand’.

Revamping cross-border payments: change coming sooner than you think

Dave Sissens, chief executive officer of RTGS.Global, sits down with the Digital Monetary Institute’s editor, Lewis McLellan, to discuss the possibilities for improving the quality of the infrastructure underpinning cross-border payments. They discuss the role that RTGS.Global’s platform could play in the future of the wholesale foreign exchange settlement ecosystem and how it might integrate with other payments systems, including CBDCs. They cover payment versus payment settlement, the removal of counterparty risk, the role of decentralisation and what the payments landscape will look like over the next five to 10 years.

In conversation with UNEP FI: the race to net zero and the role of alliances

Regulation and disclosure requirements for the financial sector are on the rise, and commitments to the net zero transition are increasing. Daniel Bouzas Luis, regional coordinator for Europe at the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative, speaks with Emma McGarthy, head of OMFIF’s Sustainable Policy Institute, about the development of UN-convened net zero alliances, the role of European institutions in the global sustainability transition and the European Union’s green taxonomy. They discuss commitments, successes and challenges for sustainable finance, including closing data gaps and increasing disclosure frameworks.

Policy trade-offs for retail CBDC

Larissa De Lima, senior fellow at the Oliver Wyman Forum, and Erica Salinas, global technical leader for blockchain at AWS, join Lewis McLellan, editor of OMFIF’s Digital Monetary Institute, to discuss their joint report, 'Retail Central Bank Digital Currency: From Vision to Design'. They delve into the importance of clear strategic priorities when it comes to designing a CBDC for retail use. Some jurisdictions will aim to prioritise the impact on financial inclusion that introducing a retail CBDC will have. Others will be more concerned with ensuring the privacy and data security of the users. De Lima and Salinas discuss policy trade-offs that CBDCs will have to grapple with, accepting compromises based on their priorities. The range of priorities is broad, and each possibility implies a different technical architecture.

Crypto crash proves the need for central bank issued digital currency

Wolfram Seidemann, chief executive officer of G+D Currency Technology, joins John Orchard, CEO of OMFIF, for a discussion on how the recent crypto crash may influence government policy regarding central bank digital currencies. They touch on the importance of security and interoperability within the payments landscape.

Trends developing in retail CBDC

Simon Chantry, Bitt’s co-founder and chief information officer, and its new economist Jim Shinn, a former US government official and member of the Criteo central bank digital currency team that was one of the three winners of the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s global CBDC challenge in 2021, join DMI editor Lewis McLellan. They discuss Bitt’s experience in deploying CBDC protocols, key themes emerging in retail CBDC development and the geopolitical pressures underpinning them.

ECB and climate risk supervision

The European Central Bank has established a supervisory climate risk stress test to better understand banks’ capabilities, risk metrics, long-term risk projections and parameters in physical and transition risk scenarios. Christoffer Kok, head of the stress test modelling division of the ECB's directorate general for macroprudential policy and financial stability, joins Emma McGarthy, head of OMFIF’s Sustainable Policy Institute, to discuss the results of the stress test, approaches and methodologies taken and lessons learnt.

Benefits and risks of CBDCs in emerging markets

Melvin Khomo, general manager for financial markets at the Central Bank of Eswatini, joins Dieter Sauter, general manager of the business unit value printing at Bundesdruckerei, and Lewis McLellan, editor of the Digital Monetary Institute, to discuss what advantages a central bank digital currency can deliver. The importance of a robust means of digital identity verification as a means of improving financial inclusion as well as part of the foundation for digital currency infrastructure and the importance of creating a robust, secure platform that citizens will feel confident in adopting are also covered.

Why public asset owners are at an inflection point

Public asset owners are at an inflection point as traditional investment strategies and business models are challenged by a rapidly changing landscape. Sovereign funds, public pension funds and central banks, which collectively hold over $40tn in assets, need to adapt to an industry in flux to achieve their core goals.

In a far-reaching, survey-based report, ‘The Evolution of Public Asset Owners’, BNY Mellon finds that the majority of public asset owners are seeking new and bold ideas in search of yield, that only 6% are satisfied with their business models and a solid majority have begun operational transformation, in large part to meet the demands of digitisation and data challenges. Christine Mikolajuk, Europe, Middle East and Africa chief operating officer for global client management at BNY Mellon, joins Patricia Haas Cleveland, OMFIF US president, to discuss the report's findings.

What to expect from the August Bank of England meeting

With Governor Andrew Bailey conveying to an OMFIF gathering that the monetary policy committee ‘will, if necessary, act forcefully… no ifs and buts’ to get consumer price index inflation down to its 2% target, all eyes will be on the MPC’s August announcement. Further - and potentially heavier rate hikes - look inevitable, as the Bank reclaims its cherished policy tool, while in tandem, though not with equal force, starting a process of active quantitative tightening (gradually selling the Bank’s assets). August’s meeting thus provides an important opportunity to take the next steps - with a possible sixth rate hike since December, of at least 25 basis points and very possibly more, and a pathway for QT.

To discuss the issues, Neil Williams, OMFIF’s chief economist, speaks with OMFIF economist, Taylor Pierce.