Continuing on the theme of disintermediation, which is almost always discussed when the opportunities and risks of CBDCs are discussed, a paper by two academics from King’s Business School and the University of Liverpool and by a central banker from the Bundesbank explores its complexity, modelling different outcomes.

The European Central Bank (ECB) has published a working paper looking at ensuring that a digital euro does not impact financial stability or the transmission of monetary policy.

The last time Currency News™ (sister publication of Cash, Payment & CBDC News™), published its Directory of Currency & Technology Suppliers was 2018. The industry has changed a great deal since then with companies coming and going. The 2024 edition has now been published and is available to purchase in either a PDF or printed format.

In this new periodic series, we will cover in brief the news and information in various countries’ central bank annual reports as they relate to cash and payments, starting off with Ireland, Rwanda and Bhutan.

Currency Research is launching its inaugural Central Bank Artificial Intelligence (CBAI) conference in London 25-26 September. The CBAI follows on directly from the Digital Currency Conference (DCC) which takes place at the same venue 23-24 September, in what the organisers are terming Payments, Innovation and Technology Week.

The full programme for the CBDC Conference 2024, which takes place 10-12 September in Istanbul, has now been published. The event brings together central bankers, industry experts, thought leaders, academia and policymakers to explore the world of digital currency, including CBDC, tokenised deposits, and stablecoins.

The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) has published a report stating that central banks should be using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to improve their analytical tools.

The European Central Bank’s Product Environmental Footprint study found that 82% of the environmental impact of banknotes happened post-issue. In addition, all around the world cash usage is changing. In some countries cash remains dominant, but elsewhere change has started and in some countries cash transactions are so low that the traditional business models no longer work.

Both the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) and the European Central Bank (ECB) are working on wholesale CBDC infrastructure.

The Cash Sustainability Forum, which took place in Frankfurt last month, concluded with a panel discussion exploring who should lead and drive environmental change in the cash area.

At the recent Cash Sustainability Forum, held in Frankfurt last month, Ian Woolford, Head of Money and Cash at the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, gave a presentation on the country’s impending community cash services trial.

The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) has published a working paper examining the relationship between innovation, economic growth and informal activities. This is based on data from 101 economies from 2014-2019.

A study commissioned by the Polish Cashless Foundation has reported that nearly half of respondents to a survey withdrew cash from store registers. Threequarters were aware this was possible.

The latest Bank for International Settlements report shows research into wholesale CBDC overtaking that of retail CBDCs.

A recent McKinsey survey in Latin America found that the number of people who said cash was their preferred payment method had halved between 2021 and 2023.

The ECB has published a blog ‘Making the digital euro truly private’, with privacy an important concern for CBDCs. A strong focus on privacy will never convince sceptics and the realities of know your customer and anti-terror funding legislation have to be accommodated.

It is unclear whether the public and merchants will use a central bank digital currency (CBDC) to make a payment. The European Central Bank (ECB) has published a paper that explores this based on survey payment data and using a quantitative framework that estimates CBDC demand based on individuals’ preferences for the attributes of different payment options.

It appears that payment stakeholders in the US and UK are seeking to pass laws and take legal action to address a perceived lack of competition in the digital payment arena. In the last few weeks, there have been a series of reports detailing legislative, regulatory and court developments in this area.

There have been a series of press reports about cash over the last few weeks. Put them together and a story emerges of what a society going cashless looks like.

In March, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System published an International Finance Discussion Paper on the demand for US banknotes at home and abroad , an important question given that the US dollar is used as a medium of exchange and store of value outside its own borders far more than any other currency.