An investigation into the use of multiple wholesale CBDCs for cross-border payments and a DLT prototype for the distribution of tokenised green bonds to retail investors are among the projects on the agenda this year for the Bank for International Settlements Innovation Hub.
Set up in 2019 the BIS Innovation Hub has centres in Switzerland, Hong Kong and Singapore, with locations in Toronto, London, Frankfurt and Paris, and Stockholm on the horizon.
For the year ahead, the hub has identified six key areas it will work on in an effort to foster collaboration among central banks on financial technology: suptech and regtech; next-generation financial market infrastructures; CBDCs; open finance; cyber security; and green finance.
Specific projects already in the pipeline include the building of a proof of concept platform using multiple wholesale CBDCs to explore the feasibility of faster and cheaper cross-border payments, and the DLT-based tokenised green bonds programme.
In addition, the hub will work on a proof of concept for a regulatory reporting platform employing data analytics and visualisation to provide supervisors with deeper and more timely insights to address risks, and a research project and associated prototypes for tiered retail CBDC distribution architectures.
Benoît Cœuré, head, BIS Innovation Hub, says: "This work programme shows our commitment to exploring in the most practical ways how best to harness technological change for the benefit of central banks and create public goods to support the global financial system."
Meanwhile, the hub has launched an innovation network to support its work and share knowledge about technology projects and discuss answers to problem statements relevant to central banks. All 63 BIS member central banks were invited to the first meeting.