Finextra Research: Latest fintech news, analysis, interviews, features and opinion by industry experts

MAS targets cross-border connectivity in wholesale CBDCs

The Monetary Authority Of Singapore (MAS) is stepping up its work on cross-border foreign exchange settlement using wholesale central bank digital currency.

04 November 2022

News/crypto

Singapore Fintech Festival 2022: Inside Project Guardian

In a session titled 'Unlocking TradFi with DeFi' at Singapore Fintech Festival 2022, DBS, JP Morgan and SBI Digital Asset Holdings explored how they were able to launch the first industry pilot under MAS’ Project Guardian, exploring potential DeFi applications in wholesale funding markets after completing its first live trades.

02 November 2022

News/inclusion

India begins digital rupee pilot

The Reserve Bank of India has begun a wholesale digital rupee pilot, with a retail trial set to follow within weeks.

01 November 2022

$Sibos 2022: Are fractionalised digital assets red herrings?$

News/crypto

Sibos 2022: Are fractionalised digital assets red herrings?

Discussions around the recent digital asset boom and its acceleration despite the market for tokenised securities remaining nascent kicked off at Sibos 2022 in Amsterdam. Sitting on a panel, Yuval Rooz, CEO and co-founder of Digital Asset, highlighted that he believes that “fractionalisation is a red herring.”

12 October 2022

News/crypto

Sibos 2022: MAS chief floats private blockchain networks for cross-border payments

Private sector-led blockchain-based networks and stablecoins could fix "slow, opaque and inefficient" cross-border payments, says Monetary Authority of Singapore managing director Ravi Menon.

12 October 2022

News/regulation

Barclays awards Lloyds Bank first place in CBDC Hackathon

Taking place over two days at the bank’s fintech hub, Rise, the Barclays CBDC Hackathon saw nine teams attempt six key challenges as they competed to create ‘the future of money.’

30 September 2022

News/payments

Central banks explore CBDC for international retail payments

The central banks of Israel, Norway and Sweden are working with the Bank for International Settlements to explore how CBDCs can be used for international retail and remittance payments.

29 September 2022

News/crypto

Hong Kong to lay the foundations for e-HKD

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority has committed to rolling out a retail central bank digital currency (CBDC) after a positive response to consultations scoping out the technical and policy perspectives.

21 September 2022

News/crypto

White House sets out digital asset framework

The White House has put together a framework for the "responsible development" of digital assets that includes a more aggressive push by regulators to take on fraud in the sector.

16 September 2022

News/crypto

ECB taps CaixaBank and Amazon for digital euro prototypes

The European Central Bank has picked five partners - including CaixaBank and Amazon - to help it develop a digital euro prototype.

16 September 2022

News/crypto

Norwegian central bank taps Ethereum for CBDC work

Norway's central bank has made the source code for its CBDC sandbox publicly available and confirmed that the prototype infrastructure for the project is based on Ethereum technology.

16 September 2022

News/crypto

Digital Dollar Project launches sandbox programme

The Digital Dollar Project has launched a technical sandbox programme as it bids to jumpstart the exploration of a US CBDC.

01 September 2022

News/payments

FIS targets central banks with real-time payments and CBDC tech

Fintech giant FIS has launched an infrastructure offering to help central banks make the move to real-time payments and CBDCs.

29 August 2022

News/regulation

UN urges curbs on crypto uptake in developing countries

The United Nation’s Conference on Trade and Development, UNCTAD, has released three policy briefs on the dangers of cryptocurrency in light of the rising use of digital assets in developing countries.

12 August 2022

News/crypto

CBDCs could boost financial stability

A well-designed central bank digital currency may enhance rather than weaken financial stability, according to a working paper from the US Treasury's Office of Financial Research.

09 August 2022

News/crypto

Bank of Thailand to launch retail CBDC pilot

The Bank of Thailand has announced the launch of its retail Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) pilot, set to run from late 2022 to mid-2023.

05 August 2022

News/payments

CBDCs could be 'holy grail' of cross-border payments - ECB

Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) could be the answer to the thousand-year search for the holy grail of cross-border payments, according to a new paper from the ECB.

03 August 2022

News/devops

Barclays to host CBDC hackathon

Speaking exclusively with Finextra, Barclays has announced it will host the ‘Barclays CBDC Hackathon 2022’ later this year, to promote the emergence of new technologies in large-scale banks.

22 July 2022

News/payments

Money 20/20 EU: How ‘web2.5’ and DLT are propelling financial services forward

In conversation with Mariana Gomez de la Villa, centre expertise lead, distributed ledger technology, ING, Finextra secured a first-hand take on the key trends dominating the DeFi world, from one of the industry’s leading voices. Here are Gomez de la Villa’s key insights shared direct from the floor of Money20/20 in Amsterdam:

14 June 2022

News/retail

Money 20/20 EU: Take caution with hyper-expansion

Hyper-personalisation is receiving significant attention from financial services at present. Yet expansion into new niches which businesses haven’t fully understood poses new risks, and, as explored by Money 20/20 Europe’s panel session, ‘Hyper-personalisation in a data-driven world', this can have severe impacts across an entire business model.

10 June 2022