Regulation
Payments and market infrastructure development – retail: Central Bank of Colombia’s Bre-B
Colombia’s new federated payments system achieved success due to thoughtful planning, proactive regulation and successful onboarding
Artificial intelligence initiative: Bank of Namibia
A concerted effort to implement AI has delivered efficiency gains within and across the financial sector
One in five smaller central banks lacks fining powers
Respondents still widely manage FX reserves and act as lender of last resort
RBNZ to collaborate with industry on financial inclusion MoU
Move follows consultation in which almost all wanted action to improve banking access
Governor of the year: Jerome Powell
The Fed chair has shown high levels of integrity and resolve in upholding his public duty in the pursuit of price stability and maximum employment
Why Trump’s latest Truth should make TradFi twitchy
Wall Street is becoming the villain in US president’s crypto movie
Fed’s Bowman: Basel has driven banks out of traditional loans
Vice-chair for supervision renews call to bring mortgage lending back to banking sector
ECB’s Donnery casts doubt over mooted competitiveness mandate
Secondary objective would ‘muddy the waters’ about bank’s role as supervisor, board member says
Work on improving resilience ‘not finished’ – BIS’s de Cos
Head of global watchdog calls for regulators to monitor non-bank sector as lending migrates
People: Braddick to take charge at UK’s prudential watchdog
Plus: BoE also appoints first executive director for monetary policy
Less than half of central banks engaged in tokenisation work
Respondents widely consider bonds for tokenisation, among other asset class
Central banks divided over stablecoin impact on US debt demand
Respondents offer different views on adoption paths and market dynamics
Two-thirds of central banks predict CBDC adoption in 5–10 years
Stablecoin launches seen as more likely by authorities without CBDC mandate
Thailand unexpectedly cuts rates on lower growth outlook
Central bank hopes easing of policy will support SMEs, households and overall economy
Most circulating stablecoins pegged to the greenback
Jurisdictions with stablecoins in use are largely high and upper-middle income countries
BPI says SR 11-7 should go; bank model risk chiefs say ‘no’
Lobby group wants US guidance repealed; practitioners want consistent model supervision and audit
Financial stability seen as top risk from private digital money
Concerns differ somewhat by region
Majority of CBDCs designed to be domestic only
But a fifth of central banks are working on multi-currency CBDCs
Brazil’s central bank shuts down lender connected to Banco Master
BCB says bank had “compromised economic and financial situation”
Central banks report 28 operational bitcoin ATMs on average
Jurisdictions with larger institutions have the most machines
CBDCs politicised in one in five jurisdictions
Public and private sectors mostly concerned about privacy of digital currencies
Fintech licences issued yearly remain below 10 on average
Number of fintechs in operation averages just over 60
Central banks keep trialling link between wCBDC and RTGS
Most respondents motivated to issue wCBDC to enable financial innovation
Repeat of past mistakes fuels risk of new crisis
Jesper Berg and Hans Geeroms argue that bank lobbying has succeeded in securing a dangerous softening of rules