Fintech
Sweden may have a digital currency in five years, says Riksbank governor
Sveriges Riksbank is testing e-krona pilot as Swedish cash use falls rapidly
Fintech & IT Benchmarks 2021 report – executive summary
Shedding light on fintech initiatives, staffing, salaries, cyber security and more
Fintech & IT Benchmarks 2021 report – detailing the evolution of technology
Benchmarking data sheds light on staffing trends, priority areas of research and more
ECB’s digital euro consultation says public worried over privacy
Nearly half of responses to ECB come from Germany
Regulating big tech and non-bank financial services in the digital era
Experiences from China highlight potential benefits of digital-bank and holding-company approaches
Central banks take less than 50 minutes to fix critical outages
Time tolerances for critical system downtime range from one to 32 hours
Cuban central bank approves new money transfer app
Digital wallet offered by Cuban telecoms firm will only receive and pay out in pesos
Payment innovation is top fintech research priority for central banks
CBDC ranked second as central banks explore wider implications of fintech for payments
High income economy central banks’ technology costs vary widely
Some central banks in advanced economies have kept costs as low as those in poorer nations
Large economy central banks more likely to employ CTO
Slight majority of central banks employ CTO, but differences are clearer when sorted by GDP
Most central banks do not have dedicated fintech departments
Fintech operations tend to be spread across departments
Central banks hired more fintech staff in 2020
Significant proportion of central banks are yet to establish dedicated fintech teams
Most central banks hold annual cyber security training sessions
One-third of central banks hold training every 0–6 months
US agencies begin survey on AI
Regulators seek information on use, management and development of artificial intelligence
Cyber security and retaining top talent are biggest tech challenges
Keeping abreast of fintech developments also tests institutions
Bank of Jamaica announces prototype CBDC partner
Irish firm eCurrency Mint will provide technology that connects with central bank’s RTGS system
Sandboxes are most popular fintech initiatives used by central banks
Almost 50% of central bank respondents operate sandbox environment
Nine in 10 central banks are working on CBDCs
Very few central banks have progressed past the research phase, but those that do are working on general purpose variants
Payment innovation is top fintech spending priority
One-third of central banks say they are prioritising digital currencies
High income countries report greater numbers of licensed fintech firms
Some jurisdictions host many licensed fintech firms but others have none
‘Do no harm’: central bankers warn against rush to issue CBDC
Agustín Carstens, Jerome Powell and Jens Weidmann highlight risks of acting too fast
Central banks struggle to retain fintech talent
Private sector competition lures employees away
BoT says prototype corporate CBDC boosted efficiency
Thai central bank says DLT allowed cement firm to integrate payments systems with suppliers
Fintech use shows international gender gap – BIS paper
Women use fintech less than men but reasons for this are unclear, survey finds