Innovations in global payment systems and the role of the BIS

Speech by Ms Andréa M Maechler, Deputy General Manager, Bank for International Settlements, at the Central Reserve Bank of Peru, Reinventing Bretton Woods Committee and Inter-American Development Bank 15th Annual Conference: "The rewiring of the global economy", Cusco, 19 July 2024.

Digitalisation and tokenisation promise to transform global payment systems. In this new environment, central banks play a crucial role in maintaining trust in money and catalysing innovation. There are three key areas of innovation in the digital payment space today: (i) the development of fast payment systems (FPS), (ii) the issuance and exploration of retail central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) and (iii) tokenisation and the need for wholesale CBDCs. These innovations will help to increase the speed and reduce the cost of payments, especially cross-border payments. They will also increase access to and use of financial services, particularly in emerging market economies. The BIS is supporting central banks in this endeavour. For instance, it is working to extend the benefits of FPS to cross-border payments through BIS Innovation Hub projects like Project Nexus, and it is showing the potential of tokenisation and wholesale CBDCs through projects like Project Agorá.