Fintech 2023
Why fear, paranoia and distrust swirl around CBDCs
Populists and conspiracy theorists are exacerbating public concern about retail CBDCs. What can central banks do about it?
EME fintech teams have wider mandates
Few chief fintech officers recruited by central banks
Regulating fintech is biggest tech challenge, central banks say
Benefits include financial inclusion, cost reduction and service efficiency
Central banks split on machine learning, AI technologies
Respondents optimise features despite drags in data quality, skills gap and algorithmic challenges
Location, security and privacy are top cloud concerns
Richer economies more likely to domesticate and operate hybrid servers
Cloud used for business continuity and advancing computation
Most institutions rely on third parties for services
Retail CBDC work more common than wholesale
Most jurisdictions still lack a legal mandate to issue a CBDC
Central banks are bullish on environmental features of CBDC
A minority of respondents’ jurisdictions prohibit crypto assets
Improving payments efficiency drives wholesale CBDC work
Advanced economy institutions lead efforts
Richer nations more likely to have regtech strategy
Regtech tools commonly used for risk assessment
Innovation hubs more common in advanced economies
Sandboxes remain most popular fintech initiative
Two in five central banks report having a suptech strategy
Enhancing efficiency is a key driver
EME central banks more likely to license fintech firms
Most institutions choose activity-based approach over other licensing methods
Payment innovation is top priority for fintech research
CBDCs and suptech are also leading focus areas for development
Half of central bank respondents have a fintech strategy
Most strategies cover the external payments ecosystem and internal fintech development