Payments
Kentucky restaurant sues Fed
Restaurant latest plaintiff to argue that debit interchange fees are illegally high
Eurozone citizens still use cash in majority of transactions
Cash use declines since 2019, but still makes up almost 60% of transactions
BoE outlines plan to adapt to drop in cash volumes
Legislation will give regulators stronger powers to intervene in wholesale cash market
Bank of Russia eases disclosure rules on digital asset firms
Moves designed to ease sanction pressure, as Nabiullina signals use of crypto for international trade
Brazilian governor outlines digital wallet and CBDC plans
Governor says CBDC model should avoid flight from bank deposits
BoE tenders for CBDC mobile wallet
Central bank will not release wallet to the public but says it wants to “sharpen functional requirements”
Law change set to make Fed reveal holders of master accounts
Amendment grew out of dispute between Republican senators and Kansas City Fed
Italy to allow larger cash payments despite central bank objections
Official warns move could encourage illicit activity
Kenya central bank restores mobile money transfer fees
Move will reverse anti-Covid measure, but cut fees from 2020 rates
Armenia’s Galstyan calls for a new framework to tackle uncertainty and nonlinearities
Central Bank of Armenia governor says central banks can start to regain credibility by admitting their mistakes. This could include employing a risk-management approach to monetary policy aimed at avoiding nonlinear ‘dark corners’ and placing much less…
Fijian central bank upgrades RTGS
New system will handle $81.6 billion of transactions annually, Reserve Bank of Fiji says
RBI set to launch retail CBDC pilot
Retail version of the e-rupee will be issued as tokens in same denominations as cash
RBA to review payment system after outage
Central bank apologises for October incident that saw 500,000 payments via an Australian fast payment platform delayed for hours or days
Central Bank of Azerbaijan ramps up cyber security
Division head points to AI’s potential as additional safeguard
Chile’s Costa on tackling inflation, forex interventions and nowcasting
The Central Bank of Chile governor speaks about stubbornly high prices, Fed policy spillovers, reserve buffers, retail CBDC and the need to address unconscious bias
African central banks expect CBDC to boost policy transmission
BIS survey finds greater focus on transmission and financial inclusion among African institutions
The long road to 24-hour RTGSs
Extended hours would help international payments but some central banks challenge the business case
Brazilian central bank will make Pix open source
Communications protocols will be open to all “for free”
BIS tests stablecoins in its first retail CBDC project
Project Aurum with HKMA also explored a token model
Book notes: Yellen, by Jon Hilsenrath
This book offers new insights into the tough decisions and tremendous efforts Yellen has made as a pre-eminent economic policy-maker
‘Any use case’ helped Pix succeed, Brazilian official says
Focus on user experience, low fees and firms’ support brought success, head of Pix team says
BIS and central banks say multi-CBDC platform trial was a success
Central banks of China, Hong Kong, Thailand and UAE took part in US$22 million cross-border trial
FATF puts Myanmar on money-laundering blacklist
Move may increase economic pressure on military junta as currency crisis grows