Asia
Vietnam’s central bank to pilot ‘virtual currency’
Prime minister orders central bank to develop blockchain-based prototype by 2023
Monitoring tools critical to measuring comms effectiveness
Facebook and YouTube remain most popular social media options, but some central banks are experimenting with others
Vast majority of central banks provide communications training
Social media, writing skills and public speaking emerged as key areas
Academics miss out on central bank background briefings
After journalists, private sector analysts are offered briefings most often
Fintech communication is most challenging for central banks
Central banks view fintech as greatest challenge, but rate monetary policy communication highly
The IFF China Report 2021
Insight and perspectives from the world's leaders, premier policy-makers and financiers
Charles Goodhart on inflation targets, financial stability and the role of money
The LSE professor says inflation targets should have been 0%, the Fed’s move to AIT is a mistake, independence is under threat from inflation, big balance sheets support liquidity, AI can help supervisors and climate stress tests are unconvincing
Singapore banks step up their game against internal fraud
Firms respond to MAS warnings about the dangers of remote working spurred by Covid
Governance Benchmarks 2021 report – the frameworks that rule central banks
How are central banks governed? Benchmarking data offers insights on appointments, legal structures, powers, decision-making bodies, independence and more
Thailand’s central bank picks G+D for retail CBDC project
BoT will use Filia platform for proof-of-concept
The Belt and Road Initiative 2021 Survey – The impact of Covid‑19 on the BRI
The fourth annual Belt and Road Initiative survey reveals that the Covid‑19 pandemic has disrupted many projects despite China remaining committed to financing the initiative, which is expected to support future economic growth and environmental…
MAS partners with financial inclusion foundation on digital currency system
Central bank officials will sit on the Mojaloop Foundation’s management boards
Benoît Cœuré on CBDCs, stablecoins and central bank fintech co-operation
BIS Innovation Hub chief voices concerns about the timing of stablecoin and CBDC roll-outs, fintech risks for supervisors and monetary policy, and details development plans for eight innovation locations
Cash infrastructure as public good – implications for the cash cycle
Efforts are under way in the Eurosystem to safeguard cash infrastructure as a ‘public good’ even as transaction volumes have fallen significantly. How can policy-makers strike the right balance?
MAS launches new regtech grant
S$42 million fund will help firms test new digital products before full deployment
Singapore’s SWF starts work on cross-border payment network
JP Morgan, DBS Bank and Temasek say project will build on collaboration with MAS
MAS and Bank of Thailand connect retail real-time payments
Transaction times will be reduced to minutes as opposed to one to two days, central banks say
MAS proposes ‘unbundling digital currency stack’
Layers of governance could allow single common settlement platform for CBDCs
Green instruments added as collateral for lending facilities – PBoC governor
China’s central bank will launch tools to encourage emission reductions
Emerging-market central banks lead on women’s empowerment
EME central banks have more women at staff level and in senior positions, but there are deep disparities worldwide, with childcare availability appearing to be a major cause
Regulating big tech and non-bank financial services in the digital era
Big tech incursions into financial services in China and elsewhere demonstrate the potential benefits of adopting a digital-bank or holding-company approach to financial regulation
HKMA and BoJ launch new securities settlement framework
New “delivery versus payment link” aims to reduce settlement risk
Payment innovation is top fintech research priority for central banks
CBDC ranked second as central banks explore wider implications of fintech for payments
IMF adjusts growth forecasts upward
Fund warns of uneven and unequal recovery, but is more optimistic than it was in October