Payments
PBoC steps up efforts to safeguard cash use
Chinese central bank fines railway $78,000 over refusal to accept cash in ticket office
Swedish central bank may join Eurosystem payments platforms
Sveriges Riksbank says Target2 and T2S could enhance policy but has security concerns
Payments Canada launches new wholesale payments system
Bank of Canada governor says new system is important to keep system secure and efficient
Pandemic increased US demand for faster payments, says Fed paper
Vast majority of business expect to be using speedier options by 2023, survey finds
Brazil delays integrating payments into ‘open banking’ project
Phase three of project delayed to October after technical difficulties emerge
Rwandan central bank scraps e-wallet transfer fees
Customers can now move money between mobile and bank accounts without charge
Payments Benchmarks 2021 report – looking forward to a digital future
Benchmarking data offer insights on mandates, staffing structure, oversight of payment services, and RTGS design and management
Majority of retail payment systems lack real-time processing and settlement
Over half of RPSs in emerging market economies were owned by central banks
Majority of central banks charge RTGS usage fee
Annual cost of running RTGS systems ranged between $35,000 to over $16 million
Third parties often develop RTGS technology
Seventy-one percent of respondents said technology underpinning RTGS system was developed by a third party
Payments department responsible for oversight of payments infrastructure
Heads of payments systems oversight often report to departmental head, but some report directly to the governor
Central banks look set to upgrade RTGS systems in the next 12 months
Nine central banks said they are planning ISO 20022 adoption
Book notes: The pay off, by Gottfried Leibbrandt and Natasha de Terán
A timely introduction to and accessible survey of payment system developments
Over 50% of central banks actively regulate cost of payments services
Central banks with explicit payments mandate more involved in setting cost limits
Mastercard and Visa dominate card scheme market
Number of operational card schemes ranges from zero to 10
Limited adoption of ISO 20022 messaging in RTGS systems
Around a fifth of central banks said they use the emerging payments messaging technology
Half of central banks surveyed experienced RTGS outages last year
Most reported operating one contingency site
Central banks split on non-bank access to RTGS systems
Benefits of innovation must be weighed against risks of financial instability
Central banks’ payments operations staffed more than oversight function
Advanced economies tend to have higher staff numbers in both functions
Spain’s interior vulnerable to loss of cash access – Bank of Spain
Rural areas have older populations and rely more on cash, but banks are closing branches
Criteria for systemically important payment infrastructure differs
Thirty-one out of 37 central banks said they designate systemically important payment infrastructure
Oversight functions stifled by lack of resources, some central banks say
Skills and resources were identified as limiting factors
The IMF’s $650bn SDR allocation and a future ‘digital SDR’
Focus is needed on widening SDR use in payments, to support a large allocation of ‘official’ IMF SDRs
Scope of payments systems oversight varies
Almost all central banks are mandated to oversee systemically important payments systems