Community

I think its imperative that customers understand how their money is protected and where it actually is.

e-money may well have to "secure and segregate" account funds, and they cannot lend them, however, the bank the e-money institution uses to hold these funds may, and more often than not, will lend them.

This is another reason why e-money institutions need to select the right agency bank provider.

Hi Chris...Firstly, thanks for your kind words, they are much appreciated.

I think you are agreeing with me though in many aspects??? Many of your points do actually look at the use case behind spending the time to implement a CBDC. I agree, there is is zero need if you are simply looking to re-engineer the wheel, and, there are many many unknowns when you look at a CBDC in a use case that that we are familiar with (retail CBDC etc). 

My point is, there are challenges we have with FIAT that a CBDC could step in and solve, this is a very specific use case behind the adoption of a CBDC. In such cases, you are not changing macro or micro-economic controls, rather you may well be enhancing them / introductiong something new. Hopefully I can share more shortly as we look to publish some of this thinking on CBDCs shortly.....  

There are very specific use cases that can solve big global financial challenges which each jurisdiction should be looking at as a matter of urgency. The challenge here is that typically, we get caught up into discussions of use cases that dont really add value - rather they re-implement / engineer the wheel. Challenges such as financial inclusion are nothing to do with CBDCs, likewise, access to immediate payments - again nothing that CBDC adds value here...

I think the point of CBDC is to move away from a 9-5 banking mindset and to look at risk models in new ways. There are many opportunities with CBDCs, but lets be clear, re-inveting the wheel may seem obvious to crypto folks, but its not what CBDC should be focussed on. If the use cases are all about making "payments", then SWIFT is right, why re-invent the wheel and disrupt economic and regulatory leavers that we understand. The upside for these use-cases is too little....

There are so many examples of where the term bank and bank account is used when its not the case.....I've no idea how they arent clamped down on pretty instantly...

Open Banking shows whats possible, but the infrastructure and direct nature of direct consumable APIs has a real issue with scaling. We need to kill direct APIs like this and move to a customer driven event model, customers MUST and need to be at the centre of open data, because at the end of the day - it is their data not that owned by financial insitutions and therefore they control who its shared with, how its used and when...

There are numerous use cases of biometrics to help aid authentication, I am not surprised that voice has prevented this amount of fraud. I have long been a supporter of voice biometrics in this use case - however, there are now emerging better solutions which still utilise voice to an extent, along with other biometric forms of authentication and MFA, all based around digital identitiy. Digital ID will be an evolution of many concepts we see today, and no doubt will save customers and banks alike, much more in terms of fraud

This is great news. Within the financial services sector, future years will no doubt show a trend of businesses looking to alternative lenders, as opposed to going back to their day to day banking provider. No doubt this will deliver better customer outcomes - and will see yet more challenger banks being able to take the incumbents head on for owning that banking relationship, especially if the source of "loans" is not the bank itself....

I'm not sure of the value of CBDCs. Many recent studies have shown that there isnt value for the vast majority of use cases, however, I believe there are no doubt use cases where CBDC would work, they are just lost in the sea of ones that can't, won't or shouldn't....

So, it's imperative we do not get caught up in the thoughts that households could be making payments with CBDCs or us as individuals hold them....That has a world of issues with it, far more unknowns and undesirable side effects than any identifiable benefits...

The taskforce is a great idea, and no doubt will disprove the vast majority of touted use cases. However, they may well identifiy some with real value and therfore lead to a focussed view of the benefits of CBDC which can only help ensure the benefits are brought to market. 

On the digital id issue, ofcourse a highly robust digital id will be required, but that needs to be interopable globally for it to play a role with CBDCs....

In short, many many many more questions and unknowns than knowns. The taskforce is the right starting point, so we should watch and see...

I think the FCA needs to keep a closer eye on all regulated businesses. Sadly, those with the "longest of track records" are often the ones who have been time and time again proven to be misselling products, forming in-approrpiatly close relationships with corporates, failing on so many levels of conduct, especially duty of care. We have even seen blatent "cover ups" and yet the regulator seems powerless to really investigate or hold to account.

People in regulated businesses change frequently, i think every time a business goes through some serious amount of change, especially at that senior manager level, the company needs to be put back into the nursery....