Financial Services Ireland (FSI), part of the Ibec employers lobby group, is holding a forum on Friday where its members will be briefed by officials from the European Central Bank (ECB) and Central Bank of Ireland on the multiyear digital euro project.
It comes as the ECB is currently in the middle of a two-year preparation phase to lay foundations and rules for a potential digital euro, with a decision due to be taken late next year on the potential issuing of a digital currency. It is expected to launch as early as 2028.
“We are open minded at this stage about a digital euro, even if there are many concerns about how it would work. At FSI, we are trying to work through these with regulators and our members,” said Elena Lillo, FSI’s regulatory affairs executive. “We welcome that the ECB is committed to a really open and transparent process and willing to engage with all types of stakeholders.”
The forum will be addressed by Erik Tak, head of the digital euro product proposition division at the ECB, and Anne Marie McKiernan, director of financial operations at the Central Bank.
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The ECB has insisted that a digital euro would complement, but not replace, physical cash, even if it will function like cash in offering high levels of privacy, wide acceptability as instant settlement and ability to pay for goods and services offline.
Such a digital currency that could reduce the euro zone’s reliance on legacy electronic payment systems operated by US companies such as Visa or Mastercard, and counter the emergence of non-European online payments providers.
[ Digital euro ‘could leave consumers and businesses vulnerable to cyber attacks’Opens in new window ]
The ECB said in a progress report published during the summer that the offline functionality would enable payments to be made without an internet connection, for example at close range, in locations with limited network coverage and in the event of power cuts.
There will be a cap on money individuals can keep in digital euro accounts – or wallets – in order to avoid a wholesale leaking of deposits from the banking sector into ECB-guaranteed accounts. It is currently proposed that the cap will be set at between €3,000 and €4,000.
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