On The Web

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Global

Australia Central Bank May Use Powers to Lower E-payment Costs

June 3 2020

• in
• Australia
• Central Banks

“Australia’s central bank could use its regulatory powers to reduce the cost of electronic payments for merchants and consumers as the coronavirus pandemic makes people wary of using cash, Assistant Governor Michele Bullock said on Wednesday. The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) is conducting a review of retail payments regulation in the country with a […]

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Providers

Google and Gates Foundation Join Forces to Promote Digital Payments in the Developing World

May 6 2020

• in
• Central Banks
• Faster payments
• National infrastructure

“A coalition of nonprofits and tech companies including Google and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation want to [make] it easier for developing countries to build real-time digital payments systems. On Wednesday, they announced the formation of the Mojaloop Foundation, which will develop and promote a free, open-source real-time payments platform intended for nations and […]

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Providers

Argentina’s Central Bank Trials Blockchain for New Interbank Settlement Layer

April 22 2020

• in
• Blockchain
• Central Banks
• Smart contracts

“The Central Bank of Argentina (BCRA) is testing a new blockchain-powered clearing system that could be used by some of the country’s largest financial institutions. Blockchain developer IOV Labs said Tuesday it had created a proof-of-concept, for a permissioned blockchain network, based on RSK Smart Contract Network , in conjunction with the central bank and […]

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Global

Singapore to Assess COVID-19 Impact on Digital Bank Bidders

June 4 2020

• in
• Central Banks
• Singapore

“Bidders for five Singapore digital bank licences on offer will have to factor in how the COVID-19 outbreak has impacted their funding and profitability plans, as the central bank kicks off interviews with applicants over the next few weeks, three sources aware of the matter said. Singapore has drawn interest from 21 applicants seeking to […]

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Global

Reserve Bank Sets up a Rs.500 Crore Digital Payments Infra Fund

June 8 2020

• in
• Central Banks
• India

The Reserve Bank of India on Friday announced that it has setup a Rs.500 crore Payment Infrastructure Development Fund (PIFD) to support and improve the development of digital payments ecosystem in the rural and north east districts of the country. The central bank has made an initial seed contribution of Rs.250 crore to the PIFD […]

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Global

Kenya’s Central Bank Extends Mobile Payments Relief by Six Months

June 25 2020

• in
• Central Banks
• Kenya

“Kenya will extend various relief measures on mobile phone payments that were introduced to help to curb the spread of the new coronavirus by a further six months, the central bank said on Wednesday. The East African country introduced the measures to encourage cashless payments on mobile phones because the government said avoiding the use […]

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Companies

Brazil Suspends WhatsApp’s New Payments System

June 24 2020

• in
• Brazil
• Central Banks
• WhatsApp

“Brazil’s central bank effectively suspended a newly-launched system allowing users of Facebook Inc’s WhatsApp messaging service to send money via chats, ordering Visa and Mastercard to halt payments and transfers via the system. The central bank said in a statement that rolling out the service without previous analysis by the monetary authority could damage the […]

On The Wires

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Providers

Federal Reserve Board Announces Interim Final Rule to Delete the Six-per-month Limit on Convenient Transfers From the “Savings Deposit” Definition in Regulation D

April 27 2020

• in
• Central Banks

“The Federal Reserve Board on Friday announced an interim final rule to amend Regulation D (Reserve Requirements of Depository Institutions) to delete the six-per-month limit on convenient transfers from the “savings deposit” definition. The interim final rule allows depository institutions immediately to suspend enforcement of the six transfer limit and to allow their customers to […]

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Providers

Federal Reserve Announces the FraudClassifier℠ Model to Help Organizations Classify Fraud Involving Payments

June 18 2020

• in
• Central Banks

“The Federal Reserve today published the FraudClassifier model – a set of tools and materials to help provide a consistent way to classify and better understand the magnitude of fraudulent activity and how it occurs across the payments industry. The model was developed by the Fraud Definitions Work Group, which was comprised of Federal Reserve […]

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Global

The Bank of Thailand Announces the Prototype Development Project of Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC)

June 18 2020

• in
• Central bank digital currencies (CBDC)
• Central Banks
• Thailand

“The Bank of Thailand (BOT) has announced the project to develop the prototype of the payment system for businesses using Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), which will build upon knowledge from Project Inthanon. The project scope will include conducting a feasibility study and developing a process to integrate CBDC with the business’ innovative platform. The […]