Tagged: central bank

August 3, 2020 @ 11:03 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Wang Yongli, the former VP of China’s reserve bank, has argued that central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) can serve as a substitute for cash or paper money in circulation. Yongli, the director of the Haixia Blockchain Research Institute, noted that virtual currencies can effectively serve… Read More

August 2, 2020 @ 2:33 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The Bank of Japan or BOJ (JASDAQ: 8301), the nation’s central bank that’s headquartered in Chūō, Tokyo, has reportedly appointed Kazushige Kamiyama, a prominent economist, as its head of a department that’s tasked with conducting research on central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). Reuters reports that… Read More

July 22, 2020 @ 11:36 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The US Federal Reserve has confirmed on multiple occasions that it has no immediate or concrete plans to introduce its own digital currency. However, Robert Bench, the Assistant VP working in the secure payments group at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, said that the… Read More

July 8, 2020 @ 8:10 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The BSP (Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas), the central bank of the Philippines, is working on a new set of guidelines for digital banks that plan on establishing operations in the country. The BSP confirmed that foreign individuals or business entities will be able to own… Read More

July 2, 2020 @ 9:22 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Bank Negara Malaysia, the nation’s central bank, released a policy document on July 1, 2020, that covers electronic or digital know-your-customer (e-KYC) requirements. The document is an update to the reserve bank’s earlier exposure draft from December 2019. The new policy went into effect immediately… Read More

July 2, 2020 @ 7:48 am By Omar Faridi  |  

The central bank of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the Abu Dhabi Global Market, an international financial center and free zone based on the Al Maryah Island in the nation’s capital, Abu Dhabi, noted on July 1, 2020, that they’re inviting Fintech firms to… Read More

June 24, 2020 @ 7:44 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Brazil’s reserve bank has reportedly instructed Mastercard and Visa to suspend processing transactions on behalf of WhatsApp. As reported on June 15, 2020, the Facebook-owned WhatsApp messaging platform began facilitating payments in Brazil. However, the Central Bank of Brazil (BC) has now taken action against… Read More

June 16, 2020 @ 11:30 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

South Korea’s reserve bank has reportedly appointed a six-member legal advisory team to look into the feasibility and potential benefits of issuing a central bank digital currency (CBDC). The Korean central bank’s advisory group includes three university professors, two legal experts, and a senior official… Read More

June 7, 2020 @ 10:05 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), the nation’s central bank, recently revealed that it’s looking into whether it should provide digital bank accounts to Pakistanis residing abroad. Reza Baqir, the reserve bank’s governor, noted that overseas Pakistanis won’t have to be physically in the country… Read More

June 5, 2020 @ 1:54 am By Omar Faridi  |  

The People’s Bank of China (PBoC), the nation’s reserve bank with around $3.2 trillion in assets, recently announced the second batch of Fintech initiatives that will take part in a pilot program involving new regulations. The pilots will take place in China’s capital, Beijing, and… Read More

June 4, 2020 @ 10:50 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

  Five companies that had applied for a digital banking license in Singapore will now have to assess how the COVID-19 outbreak and resulting challenges will affect their ability to acquire adequate funding. As first reported by Reuters, the applicants will also have to revisit… Read More

May 10, 2020 @ 6:44 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Qatar’s central bank (QCB) has proposed a second strategic plan which involves establishing clear policies that aim to support venture capital funding and the development of SMEs, according to Sheikh Abdulla bin Saoud al-Thani, the governor at QCB. The Qatar Development Bank (QDB), a local… Read More

May 5, 2020 @ 11:02 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), the nation’s central bank and financial regulator,  confirmed recently that it would be supporting the inaugural G20 TechSprint initiative, which has been introduced by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) Innovation Hub and the Saudi G20 Presidency on the… Read More

May 2, 2020 @ 10:28 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Magyar Nemzeti Bank (MNB), the reserve bank of Hungary, has released its very first Fintech and Digitalization Report, which looks into the state of financial technology adoption and the level of digitalization across the nation’s banking ecosystem. The report revealed that there are at least… Read More

April 29, 2020 @ 8:43 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak has created major social-economic challenges for individuals and businesses throughout the world. The pandemic has led to an increase in the use of Fintech-focused services, which has helped some companies generate more revenue during these difficult times. However, the crisis has… Read More

April 24, 2020 @ 12:54 am By JD Alois  |  

China has long been expected to become the first nation to launch a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). Periodically, reports have popped up regarding the development of the digital currency and today we have another glimmer on the progress driven by the People’s Bank of… Read More

April 22, 2020 @ 11:35 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The reserve bank of the Netherlands, De Nederlandsche Bank, recently revealed that it’s planning to play a key role in the ongoing development of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). As mentioned in a notice published on April 21, 2020, the Dutch central bank said that… Read More

April 4, 2020 @ 1:41 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Four of Brazil’s financial regulatory agencies are working cooperatively to create a blockchain or distributed ledger technology (DLT)-enabled data-sharing platform, which will conduct background checks on the nation’s political representatives and private corporations. The platform, called PIER, was reportedly created by the country’s reserve bank,… Read More

March 25, 2020 @ 7:50 am By Omar Faridi  |  

The People’s Bank of China (PBoC), the nation’s central bank, is reportedly inching closer to launching a national virtual currency. As noted in a report from the Global Times on March 24, 2020, which cited “industry insiders,” the PBoC seems to have finalized the development… Read More

March 23, 2020 @ 3:15 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Tao Zhang, deputy managing director at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), has argued that issuing central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) may lower costs and enhance the overall efficiency of the financial system. Zhang, whose comments came during a keynote presentation, held at the London School… Read More