Payments
Renminbi cracks top-five payment currencies
Share of the renminbi in global payments increases to 2.17% in December, Swift data shows, pushing it above the Canadian and Australian dollars, and into the top five
Fed challenges payments industry to get quicker and safer
New document sets out strategies for improving US payment system; Federal Reserve will only consider expanding role as service provider if private sector falls short
MEPs strike deal to cap card payment fees
European Parliament reaches agreement on limits to the fees banks can charge retailers for processing payments in a bid to lower prices and tackle perverse incentives
UK payments regulator may use powers to force innovation
Payment Systems Regulator emphasises its "strong" powers over industry and says it will not hesitate to use them if firms fail to collaborate on innovation
Euro Retail Payments Board warns of fragmented market for 'instant payments'
Stakeholder group sets up working streams on 'person-to-person' and contactless euro payments; chair Yves Mersch stresses importance of instant clearing services
National Bank of Ukraine to overhaul payments system
National Bank of Ukraine is upgrading its payments system with a view to widening its use; it is also exploring the use of mobile applications in making payments
Resource costs of Australian payments system down as percentage of GDP
Consumers face similar cost for credit and debit card payments despite higher cost of credit cards to the economy, RBA paper finds
PBoC highlights ‘rapid’ growth of electronic payments
Quarterly report on payments in China says electronic payments, particularly mobile payments, grew significantly in Q3
Swift wins Australian real-time payments contract
Contract represents new direction for the financial messaging service, with the final platform expected to go live in 2017
New payments regulator in UK may have uneasy relationship with BoE
Treasury committee highlights potential for conflicting objectives between newly formed payments regulator and the Bank of England; Tyrie says independence ‘pretty heavily circumscribed’
Central banks weighing the benefits of bitcoin
Digital or ‘crypto’ currencies are controversial among central banks, but some see merits in their use and a few may even issue their own; more digital currency innovation likely in future
BoJ’s Nakaso sees opportunities for payments innovation
Options on the table include 24-7 real-time payment systems, improved cross-border linkages and better financial messaging systems
Riksbank study questions status of cash as legal tender
Researchers warn ‘lock-in effect' may inhibit market participants from exploiting more efficient payment methods
BoE picks Deloitte to review RTGS failure
Consultancy firm to conduct investigation into outage in real-time gross settlement system that saw system break down for several hours
Riksbank deputy assesses changing payments market
Cecilia Skingsley warns capacity of mobile networks is not always sufficient to manage ‘temporary peaks' in activity; also addresses ‘changeover' of banknotes and coins
BoJ team surveys payment innovation landscape
Central bank lays ground for retail payments innovation in Japan with survey of what has been tried elsewhere; highlights different forces driving change in each country
Stevens exerts pressure on Australian payments industry
RBA governor says the central bank would be ‘duty bound’ to use its regulatory powers to bring about change if the market does not do so of its own free will
Cœuré says payments innovation is a double-edged sword
ECB’s Benoît Cœuré says new innovations such as virtual currencies can reveal ‘inefficiencies’ in existing products or approaches, but ‘often imply financial or security risks’
Carney launches review into RTGS failure
Independent review will look into ‘technical issue’ that knocked RTGS system out of operation yesterday, and consider the central bank’s response
Bank of England resumes settlement after 'technical issue’
UK’s high-value payment system was ‘paused’ for several hours today, but is now back up and running; central bank extends opening hours to deal with backlog
CPMI-Iosco report recommends tools for recovering FMIs
Report lays out toolkit for maintaining critical services and restoring stability in the event a financial market infrastructure comes close to collapse
RBA’s Stevens lauds ‘substantial’ progress towards real-time payments
Reserve Bank governor says Australia is now closer to delivering ‘real-time, data-rich payments’; first meeting of the Australian Payments Council expected this month
Central Bank of Nigeria implements ‘sanctions screening' service to combat financial crime
Swift service helping banks meet global best practices on financial crime will be functional in January; step towards realising 2020 ‘payment system vision'
Balance sheet saw ‘substantial’ growth in past year, says RBA’s Stevens
Combined impact of replenished capital and new financial market operations has seen balance sheet swell, according to the Reserve Bank of Australia’s annual report for 2014