THE BIG DEBATE Gamechanger CBDC?
Central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) are gaining traction – but some corporate treasurers are missing a vision for token-based B2B payments, especially in Europe. flow’s Desirée Buchholz hosts a debate on the relevance of digital currencies for companies
C
entral bank digital currencies (CBDCs) is no longer a buzz phrase with a background familiar only
to the well-informed tech and payment communities. Over the past two years, CBDCs have found their way into the discussions of corporate treasurers, consumers, and even the broader public. This trend is driven by the fact that by June 2022, 105 countries, representing over 95% of global GDP, had started exploring a digital currency. The number has more than tripled since May 2020, according to a CBDC tracker published by the Atlantic Council. The tracker also shows that 10 countries had launched a digital currency by March 2022 and another 16 were at the pilot stage – including leading economies such as South Korea and China. China’s central bank, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), even used the Beijing 2022
Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games to globally showcase its digital currency, dubbed e-CNY. Against these developments, the four largest central banks managing the world’s most important currencies – in the US, the Euro Area, Japan, and the UK – are lagging behind. The European Central Bank (ECB), for example, only launched its investigation into the launch of a digital euro in October 2021, making autumn in 2026 the earliest that the concept could become a reality.
Professional perspectives So, what do corporate treasurers think about these developments? Under what conditions would they like to use CBDCs for their payment processes? And what are the chances that current CBDC projects fulfil these wishes? flow set up a debate among four professionals:
Britta Döttger Group Treasurer at Swiss pharma giant Hoffmann-La Roche
Martin Schlageter Head of Treasury Operations at
Hoffmann-La Roche
Alexander Bechtel Head of Digital Assets & Currencies Strategy at Deutsche Bank
Jochen Siegert Head of Asset Platforms at Deutsche Bank, Member of the Digital Euro Market Advisory Group of the European Central Bank
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Photography: Alamy
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