Thinking About the Future

August is one of those months where much of the world slows down, particularly in the northern hemisphere, creating an opportunity for a more reflective piece. As a result, this edition spends some time looking to the future.

We include a review of the Bank of England’s consultation on money and payment innovation, which appears to focus on ways to optimise and develop what we have today, along with a speech by the Deputy Governor of the Bank of England which looks to a world where the tokenisation of assets is leading to flatter structures and whether wholesale CBDCs will actually be needed.

We also review the Bank of Canada’s staff paper on the challenge facing retail money which, in contrast, sees CBDC, aligned with regulations, as a necessity as digitisation extends its reach and cash declines. The paper perhaps looks beyond the Bank of England’s horizon, but it does not see what we have today being sufficient in the longer term.