Money and payments

• Designing a CBDC for universal access

  Staff analytical note 2020-10 John Miedema, Cyrus Minwalla, Martine Warren, Dinesh Shah

  If the Bank of Canada issues a central bank digital currency, the technology should be designed for universal access.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff analytical notes JEL Code(s): E, E4, E41, O, O3, O31 Research Theme(s): Money and payments, Cash and bank notes, Digital assets and fintech, Payment and financial market infrastructures, Retail payments

• Privacy in CBDC technology

  Staff analytical note 2020-9 Sriram Darbha, Rakesh Arora

  Privacy is a key aspect of a potential central bank digital currency system. We outline different technical choices to enact various privacy models while complying with the appropriate regulations. We develop a framework to evaluate privacy models and list key risks and trade-offs in privacy design.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff analytical notes JEL Code(s): E, E4, E42, E5, E51, O, O3 Research Theme(s): Money and payments, Digital assets and fintech, Payment and financial market infrastructures

• An Economic Perspective on Payments Migration

  Staff working paper 2020-24 Anneke Kosse, Zhentong Lu, Gabriel Xerri

  Consumers, businesses and banks make millions of payments each day using a variety of instruments, such as debit cards, cheques and wires. Canada is currently developing three new systems to process these transactions: Lynx, Settlement Optimization Engine (SOE) and Real-Time Rail (RTR).

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers JEL Code(s): E, E4, E42, G, G2, G21 Research Theme(s): Financial system, Financial stability and systemic risk, Money and payments, Payment and financial market infrastructures, Retail payments

• The Market for Acquiring Card Payments from Small and Medium-Sized Canadian Merchants

  Staff discussion paper 2020-5 Angelika Welte, Jozsef Molnar

  This note uses industry data and a unique dataset of small and medium-sized merchants to provide insights into the acquirer-merchant market in Canada.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff discussion papers JEL Code(s): C, C2, D, D2, E, E4, E42 Research Theme(s): Financial markets and funds management, Market structure, Money and payments, Payment and financial market infrastructures, Retail payments

• Is Central Bank Currency Fundamental to the Monetary System?

  Staff discussion paper 2020-2 Hanna Armelius, Carl Andreas Claussen, Scott Hendry

  In this paper, we discuss whether the ability of individuals to convert commercial bank money (i.e., bank deposits) into central bank money is fundamentally important for the monetary system.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff discussion papers JEL Code(s): E, E4, E41, E42, E5 Research Theme(s): Money and payments, Cash and bank notes, Digital assets and fintech, Payment and financial market infrastructures

• Demand for Payment Services and Consumer Welfare: The Introduction of a Central Bank Digital Currency

  Staff working paper 2020-7 Kim Huynh, Jozsef Molnar, Oleksandr Shcherbakov, Qinghui Yu

  Using a two-stage model, we study the determinants of Canadian consumers’ choices of payment method at the point of sale. We estimate consumer preferences and adoption costs for various combinations of payment methods. We analyze how introducing a central bank digital currency would affect the market equilibrium.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers JEL Code(s): C, C5, C51, E, E4, E42, L, L1, L14, L5, L52 Research Theme(s): Models and tools, Econometric, statistical and computational methods, Economic models, Money and payments, Digital assets and fintech, Retail payments

• A Uniform Currency in a Cashless Economy

  Staff analytical note 2020-7 Walter Engert, Ben Fung

  A number of questions can arise when considering the implications of a cashless society. This note considers whether cash is necessary for a uniform currency.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff analytical notes JEL Code(s): E, E4, E41, E42, E5 Research Theme(s): Money and payments, Cash and bank notes, Digital assets and fintech, Payment and financial market infrastructures

• Technology Approach for a CBDC

  Staff analytical note 2020-6 Dinesh Shah, Rakesh Arora, Han Du, Sriram Darbha, John Miedema, Cyrus Minwalla

  In this note, we highlight a range of technical options and considerations in designing a contingent system for a central bank digital currency (CBDC) in Canada and explore how these options achieve stated public policy goals.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff analytical notes JEL Code(s): E, E4, E42, E5, E51, O, O3, O31 Research Theme(s): Money and payments, Digital assets and fintech, Payment and financial market infrastructures, Retail payments

• CBDC and Monetary Sovereignty

  Staff analytical note 2020-5 Antonio Diez de los Rios, Yu Zhu

  In an increasingly digitalized world, issuers of private digital currency can weaken central banks’ ability to stabilize the economy. By continuing to make central bank money attractive as a payment instrument in a digital world, a central bank digital currency (CDBC) could help to maintain a country’s monetary sovereignty.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff analytical notes JEL Code(s): E, E5, E52, E58, F, F5, F55, G, G1, G15 Research Theme(s): Financial system, Financial stability and systemic risk, Monetary policy, Monetary policy tools and implementation, Money and payments, Digital assets and fintech, Payment and financial market infrastructures

• CBDC and Monetary Policy

  Staff analytical note 2020-4 Mohammad Davoodalhosseini, Francisco Rivadeneyra, Yu Zhu

  Improving the conduct of monetary policy is unlikely to be the main motivation for central banks to issue a central bank digital currency (CBDC). While some argue that a CBDC could allow more complex transfer schemes or the ability to break below the zero lower bound, we find these benefits might be small or difficult to realize in practice.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff analytical notes JEL Code(s): E, E4, E41, E5, E51, E52 Research Theme(s): Monetary policy, Monetary policy framework and transmission, Monetary policy tools and implementation, Money and payments, Digital assets and fintech