Tagged: reserve bank

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 27, 2020 @ 8:53 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The People’s Bank of China (PBoC) recently noted that it has not yet provided a definite timetable on a formal or official virtual yuan launch. During a recent interview, PBoC Governor Yi Gang clarified that the institution was only performing “routine work for the research and… Read More

May 17, 2020 @ 4:13 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Reserve banks in 46 countries are currently exploring or considering developing a central bank digital currency (CBDC) by using a permissioned (or private) distributed ledger technology (DLT)-based platform. This, according to a recently published survey from UK-based journal Central Banking. The publication is reportedly supported… 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 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

March 8, 2020 @ 10:27 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Mature global economies like Japan’s won’t need a virtual currency, according to the deputy governor at the Bank of Japan (BoJ). While attending the Bank for International Settlement’s Future of Payments Forum, deputy governor Masayoshi Amamiya said that a central bank digital currency, or CBDC,… Read More

February 21, 2020 @ 8:05 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Sweden has reportedly begun piloting an electronic version of its national currency, the krona. The European nation’s government says that the e-krona is a step closer to its official launch as a central bank digital currency (CBDC). The testing of the country’s CBDC will go… Read More

February 20, 2020 @ 9:12 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Banco Central de Brazil, the nation’s reserve bank, is planning to introduce an instant payments solution, PIX, in November 2020.  The Brazilian central bank noted on February 19 that the new instant payments platform will allow users to perform transactions using QR code technology. It… Read More

February 2, 2020 @ 6:05 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The Bank of Japan (BoJ), the nation’s central bank, has been working on a virtual currency project for several years. The BoJ must be prepared to issue digital currencies if technical innovations in international settlement systems will increase consumer demand, the bank’s deputy governor noted… Read More

December 27, 2019 @ 6:53 am By Omar Faridi  |  

The Bank of Russia, the nation’s central bank, is reportedly testing various stablecoins, which are pegged to major fiat currencies or other types of real-world assets in a regulatory sandbox environment. Head of the Russian reserve bank, Elvira Nabiullina, says that the institution does not… Read More