Bank notes

• Central Bank Digital Currency: Motivations and Implications

  Staff Discussion Paper 2017-16 Walter Engert, Ben Fung

  The emergence of digital currencies such as Bitcoin and the underlying blockchain and distribution ledger technology have attracted significant attention. These developments have raised the possibility of considerable impacts on the financial system and perhaps the wider economy.

  Content Type(s): Staff Research, Staff Discussion Papers Topic(s): Bank notes, Digital Currencies and Fintech, Financial services, Payment clearing and settlement systems JEL Code(s): E, E4, E41, E42, E5

• Cash Versus Card: Payment Discontinuities and the Burden of Holding Coins

  Staff Working Paper 2017-47 Heng Chen, Kim Huynh, Oz Shy

  Cash is the preferred method of payment for small value transactions generally less than $25. We provide insight to this finding with a new theoretical model that characterizes and compares consumers’ costs of paying with cash to paying with cards for each transaction.

  Content Type(s): Staff Research, Staff Working Papers Topic(s): Bank notes, Econometric and statistical methods JEL Code(s): D, D0, D03, E, E4, E42
• November 16, 2017

  Acceptance and Use of Payments at the Point of Sale in Canada

  Bank of Canada Review - Autumn 2017 Ben Fung, Kim Huynh, Anneke Kosse

  Merchants universally accept cash. Consumers widely hold cash but also carry debit and credit cards. The cost of using a method of payment has only a small influence on which method consumers use. Large merchants accept all payments, while only two-thirds of small and medium-sized businesses accept credit cards. Merchants report that credit cards are the costliest payment method compared with cash and debit cards. However, costs are not the only consideration. Merchant acceptance of credit accounts for the many con-sumers that want to use credit cards. This interaction between consumers and merchants is known as network externalities.

  Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review Article Topic(s): Bank notes, Digital Currencies and Fintech, Financial Institutions, Payment clearing and settlement systems JEL Code(s): D, D2, D23, D24, E, E4, E41, E42, G, G2, G21, L, L2
• April 7, 2017

  Unveiling of Commemorative Bank Note Marking the 150th Anniversary of Canada

  Remarks Stephen S. Poloz Ottawa, Ontario

  Governor Stephen S. Poloz unveils a new commemorative $10 bank note marking the 150th anniversary of Canada.

  Content Type(s): Press, Speeches Topic(s): Bank notes

• The Costs of Point-of-Sale Payments in Canada

  Staff Discussion Paper 2017-4 Anneke Kosse, Heng Chen, Marie-Hélène Felt, Valéry Dongmo Jiongo, Kerry Nield, Angelika Welte

  Using data from our 2014 cost-of-payments survey, we calculate resource costs for cash, debit cards and credit cards. For each payment method, we examine the total cost incurred by consumers, retailers, financial institutions and infrastructures, the Royal Canadian Mint and the Bank of Canada.

  Content Type(s): Staff Research, Staff Discussion Papers Topic(s): Bank notes, Digital Currencies and Fintech, Financial Institutions, Payment clearing and settlement systems JEL Code(s): D, D1, D12, D2, D23, D24, E, E4, E41, E42, G, G2, G21, L, L2

• Adoption Costs of Financial Innovation: Evidence from Italian ATM Cards

  Staff Working Paper 2017-8 Kim Huynh, Philipp Schmidt-Dengler, Gregor W. Smith, Angelika Welte

  The discrete choice to adopt a financial innovation affects a household’s exposure to inflation and transactions costs. We model this adoption decision as being subject to an unobserved cost.

  Content Type(s): Staff Research, Staff Working Papers Topic(s): Bank notes, Econometric and statistical methods, Financial services JEL Code(s): C, C3, C35, D, D1, D14, E, E4, E41

• Canadian Bank Notes and Dominion Notes: Lessons for Digital Currencies

  Staff Working Paper 2017-5 Ben Fung, Scott Hendry, Warren E. Weber

  This paper studies the period in Canada when both private bank notes and government-issued notes (Dominion notes) were simultaneously in circulation. Because both of these notes shared many of the characteristics of today's digital currencies, the experience with these notes can be used to draw lessons about how digital currencies might perform.

  Content Type(s): Staff Research, Staff Working Papers Topic(s): Bank notes, Digital Currencies and Fintech, Financial services JEL Code(s): E, E4, E41, E42, E5, E58
• December 8, 2016

  Engaging Canadians: a #bankNOTEable process

  Remarks Stephen S. Poloz Canadian Museum of History Gatineau, Quebec

  Governor Poloz, with Ministers Morneau and Hadju, announces the #bankNOTEable woman.

  Content Type(s): Press, Speeches Topic(s): Bank notes

• Wait a Minute: The Efficacy of Discounting versus Non-Pecuniary Payment Steering

  Staff Working Paper 2016-8 Angelika Welte

  Merchants who accept credit cards face payment processing fees. In most countries, the no-surcharge rule prohibits them from using surcharges to pass these fees on to customers.

  Content Type(s): Staff Research, Staff Working Papers Topic(s): Bank notes, Market structure and pricing, Payment clearing and settlement systems JEL Code(s): D, D1, D12, E, E5, E58, G, G2, G28

• On the Essentiality of E-Money

  Staff Working Paper 2015-43 Jonathan Chiu, Tsz-Nga Wong

  Recent years have witnessed the advances of e-money systems such as Bitcoin, PayPal and various forms of stored-value cards. This paper adopts a mechanism design approach to identify some essential features of different payment systems that implement and improve the constrained optimal resource allocation.

  Content Type(s): Staff Research, Staff Working Papers Topic(s): Bank notes, Digital Currencies and Fintech, Payment clearing and settlement systems JEL Code(s): E, E4, E42, E5, E58, L, L5, L51