‘Digital base money’ could hinder monetary policy, ECB official warns

Mersch examines means of issuing central bank-backed digital money to non-banks

Yves Mersch
Yves Mersch, European Central Bank

'Digital base money' could be more widely used in the eurozone, according to Yves Mersch, but only if it is designed in a way that does not hinder the implementation of monetary policy.

The European Central Bank executive board member told a seminar in Finland on January 16 that 'digital base money', or DBM, was characterised by two features: not only is it a "claim on the central bank", like circulating banknotes, but also "in contrast to banknotes, it is digital".

DBM already existed, Mersch

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