Taiwanese visitors to Okinawa prefecture in Japan will soon be able to make contactless payments directly settled in New Taiwan Dollars for small-value purchases using their EasyCard stored-value smart payments and transit card... More
Cross border
Banks develop interoperable platform for cross-border CBDC transactions
The Bank of International Settlements and the central banks of Australia, Malaysia and Singapore have completed a joint project to develop a shared platform that could facilitate direct cross-border transactions between institutions using different central bank digital currencies (CBDCs)... More
IMF reports on digital currencies
Around 100 countries are now exploring the potential development and issuance of a central bank digital currency (CBDC), and the challenges and opportunities identified by these research projects reveal a need for “increased international information-sharing of insights learned”, according to an International Monetary Fund (IMF) report... More
Russia launches digital ruble pilot with 12 banks
The 12 Russian banks taking part in the first phase of the Central Bank of Russia’s digital ruble pilot scheme have started or are ready to start trialling the central bank digital currency (CBDC) across a range of payment types... More
Japanese banks gear up to test digital currency
A consortium of more than 70 leading banks, financial services providers and other businesses in Japan is to conduct a series of proof of concept (PoC) trials of a digital currency supported by commercial banks across a range of specific use cases with the aim of rolling the currency out by the end of the 2022 fiscal year... More
EPI calls for public funding to support pan-European payments system
The European Payments Initiative (EPI) is seeking public funding to support its development of a unified payment system across Europe that would compete with US-based networks such as Visa and Mastercard, EPI chief executive Martina Weimert has said... More
Germany and Spain to test cross-border digital identity ecosystem
The governments of Germany and Spain have signed a memorandum of agreement to cooperate on the design, development and piloting of a cross-border digital identity ecosystem that will enable citizens to verify their identity and access digital services in both countries... More
Swiss mobile payments provider to roll out cross-border payments in 2022
Swiss consumers with a Twint digital wallet will be able to make digital payments with their credit card or directly from their bank account in other European countries from 2022, the Swiss mobile payments service says... More
Vipps, MobilePay and Pivo to merge and launch single digital wallet across Scandinavia
Bank-owned Nordic mobile payment providers Vipps in Norway, MobilePay in Denmark and Pivo in Finland are to merge and will create a single digital wallet that consumers can use in all three countries, as well as for cross-border payments... More
Thai and Malaysian central banks roll out real-time cross-border QR payments
Consumers from Thailand can now make instant cross-border QR code-based payments for goods and services to merchants in Malaysia from their mobile payments app using a service being launched by the Bank of Thailand and Bank Negara Malaysia... More
Hong Kong to explore potential for digital HK dollar
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) is launching “a comprehensive study” that will explore the use cases, benefits and risks of developing a digital Hong Kong dollar as a central bank digital currency (CBDC)... More
Swift and Accenture lay out requirements for cross border CBDC payments infrastructure
Ensuring that central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) are interoperable and integrated with existing payment infrastructures are among the key requirements for their successful implementation in cross border transactions, according to a joint paper published by Swift and Accenture... More
Mastercard in talks with PBOC over support for cross-border digital yuan transactions
Mastercard is seeking a role in the development of China’s central bank digital currency (CBDC) by supporting the use of the digital yuan for cross-border transactions and its conversion to and from foreign currencies, according to South China Morning Post (SCMP)... More
ECB survey reveals Europeans expect digital euro to be private, secure and easy to use
More than two-fifths (43%) of Europeans rank privacy as the most important feature of a digital euro central bank digital currency (CBDC), with 18% citing security, 11% the ability to pay across the eurozone, 9% the lack of additional costs and 8% offline usability, according to a European Central Bank (ECB) survey... More
Chinese banks roll out digital yuan wallets
Customers of all six state-owned Chinese banks can now apply for test versions of the banks’ digital yuan wallets as the country rolls out the next phase of its central bank digital currency (CBDC) pilot programme in the city of Changsha... More
Thai and Vietnamese central banks roll out cross-border QR payments
The Bank of Thailand and the State Bank of Vietnam have launched an interoperable cross-border payments system that will enable Thai visitors to Vietnam and Vietnamese visitors to Thailand to make QR code-based payments for goods and services using their mobile banking app... More
EU approves plans for instant cross-border payments
The European Council has endorsed plans to introduce a fully integrated retail payment system that will enable instant cross-border payments and financial transfers throughout the European Union... More
Tencent and Ant to integrate digital yuan wallets into mobile banking apps
Tencent-backed WeBank and Ant-backed MyBank are conducting “preliminary work under the guidance of the People’s Bank of China (PBOC)” in order to integrate the digital yuan wallet into their payment and banking services, according to a China Securities report... More
Survey: Eight in ten central banks are now actively engaged in digital currency projects
More than four-fifths of the world’s central banks (86%) are engaged in “some form of work” on a central bank digital currency (CBDC), up from “about one third” in 2019, according to a Bank for International Settlements (BIS) survey... More
BIS to build proof of concept platform for cross-border CBDC payments
The Bank of International Settlements (BIS) is to develop a proof of concept platform to explore the use of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) for cross-border payments and has identified CBDCs as one of six “thematic priorities” for the year... More