Invested: The OMFIF Podcast

David Birch, author and adviser on digital currencies, joins Phil Middleton, chairman of the Digital Monetary Institute, to discuss David's book, The Currency Cold War: Cash and Cryptography, Hash Rates and Hegemony. Their far-reaching conversation covers the central bank digital currency landscape, private currencies, and whether crime rates can really be demolished in this new era of digital currencies. Further topics include the regeneration of interbank settlement and the restructuring of financial markets, both domestically and internationally.

 

Music: https://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music

Tom Groom, managing partner for financial services at EY, joins Danae Kyriakopoulou, OMFIF’s chief economist and director of research, to discuss the opportunities and risks to the sustainability agenda from the Covid-19 crisis. They focus on challenges for supervisors balancing priorities for immediate economic relief with the need to ensure a green recovery, the banking sector’s preparedness for upcoming regulations and the innovations needed in capital markets to scale up sustainable investment opportunities.

Music: https://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music

Wolfram Seidemann, chief executive officer of G+D Currency Technology, joins David Marsh, chairman of OMFIF, to discuss how central bank digital currency has gained traction among public and private sector institutions and if Covid-19 is a motivating factor for central banks to adopt digital currency. They also discuss at the state of blockchain technology, privacy concerns and the benefits CBDC may offer to society during the pandemic.

Music: https://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music

Recent events are having far-reaching consequences for the US economy, affecting all parts of society and the outlook of policy-makers and market participants. William Dudley, former president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, joins Mark Sobel for a conversation about the US economy and his outlook on the years ahead. Taimur Baig, chief economist at DBS Bank, provides a first response and reflections.

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Music: https://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music

 

 

Kurtulus Taskale Diamondopoulos, Director, Central Banks and Public Policy at the World Gold Council, joins Pierre Ortlieb, economist at OMFIF, to discuss WGC’s newest annual central bank gold survey in the broader context of gold reserves management amid the coronavirus pandemic. They discuss the state of play in global central bank gold holdings, valuation and accounting issues, the mechanics of gold swaps and deposits, and the outlook for the yellow metal.

• 2020 Central Bank Gold Reserve Survey
• Resources on central banks and gold
• Gold valuation framework

Music: https://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music

 

Welcome to part four of our special series with EY on the economic response measures to Covid-19 crisis. In this edition, Marcin Stepan and Mike Lee, EY’s global wealth and asset management leader, discuss the pandemic’s effect on asset management. They focus on the financial fallout from the crisis as companies face shrinking revenues and operating margins. They examine the challenges and opportunities in strategically approaching cost reduction and control, while ensuring scalability and elasticity to meet future growth needs.

Music: https://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music

OMFIF’s Julie Levy-Abegnoli looks back over some of the most recent articles published on the OMFIF website, including those on flattening the debt curve, transatlantic monetary theory, and the International Monetary Fund's epic virus battle.

Articles and other items referenced:

1. Flattening the debt curve: https://www.omfif.org/2020/06/flattening-the-debt-curve/
2. US unprepared for money supply boom: https://www.omfif.org/2020/06/us-unprepared-for-money-supply-boom/
3. IMF's epic virus challenge: https://www.omfif.org/2020/06/imfs-epic-virus-challenge/
4. Cambodia edges towards digital payments: https://www.omfif.org/2020/06/cambodia-edges-towards-digital-payments/
5. In conversation with William Dudley: https://www.omfif.org/events/in-conversation-with-william-dudley-us-economic-policy-and-outlook/
6. Perspectives on the economy in the wake of Covid-19: https://www.omfif.org/events/perspectives-on-the-economy-in-the-wake-of-covid-19/
7. Practical steps towards a capital markets union: https://www.omfif.org/events/practical-steps-towards-a-capital-markets-union/ 

Music: Hey Mercy by Pierce Murphy is licensed under an Attribution License.

 

Swift plays a vital role moving money around, acting as a lifeline for trade and economic activity. Michael Moon, Swift's managing director of payments and trade, joins Bhavin Patel, senior economist and head of fintech research at OMFIF, to discuss how Swift’s role in global payment systems is changing as payments become increasingly digitised and amid greater innovation in the financial infrastructure. Further topics include the introduction of Swift gpi and the ISO 20022 standards, and correspondent banking during a time of derisking.

 

Music: https://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music

OMFIF’s Julie Levy-Abegnoli looks back over some of the most recent articles published on the OMFIF website, including those on diversity in central banking, US fiscal wrangling, and ECB bond purchases.

Articles and other items referenced:

1. US fiscal wrangling in full force: https://www.omfif.org/2020/06/us-fiscal-wrangling-in-full-force/
2. Central banks' diversity problem: https://www.omfif.org/2020/06/central-banks-diversity-problem/
3. Fresh German legal battle over ECB easing: https://www.omfif.org/2020/06/fresh-german-legal-battle-over-ecb-easing/
4. Six centuries of central bank independence (synopsis): https://www.omfif.org/2020/06/six-centuries-of-central-bank-independence/
5. Central banking before 1800 (book review): https://www.omfif.org/2020/06/central-banking-before-1800/
6. Digital Monetary Institute Journal, June edition: https://www.omfif.org/omfif-digital-monetary-institute-journal-upgrading-the-network/
7. The bumpy road to recovery: https://www.omfif.org/events/the-bumpy-road-to-recovery/
8. Cybersecurity post-pandemic: https://www.omfif.org/events/cybersecurity-post-pandemic/
9. Financial services in the new age of work: https://www.omfif.org/events/financial-services-in-the-new-age-of-work/
10. The US in the global order: https://www.omfif.org/events/the-us-in-the-global-order-the-role-of-the-dollar-and-tensions-with-china/
11. Covid-19 responses and recovery - Perspectives from Germany: https://www.omfif.org/events/covid-19-response-and-recovery-perspective-from-germany/ 

Music: Hey Mercy by Pierce Murphy is licensed under an Attribution License.

Jerome Powell, chairman of the US Federal Reserve, laid out the central bank’s stance on inflation, job growth and plans to support the economy in mid-June. Tim Duy, professor of practice and senior director of the Oregon Economic Forum at the University of Oregon, joins Mark Sobel, US chairman of OMFIF, to discuss the Federal Reserve’s policies for job growth and the announcement that interest rates will remain near zero till 2022.

 

Music: https://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music