The Banque de France and the Central Bank of Singapore evaluated liquidity management for cross-border payment and settlement with two digital currencies. With Liquidshare, it was the experimentation of delivery versus payment of financial securities that was carried out. After the eight planned trials, an investigation phase could begin in the autumn before the ECB decides to launch in 2023.
The Banque de France is making great strides in its experiments with central bank digital money (CBDM). In all, eight tests are on the agenda to verify the relevance of a digital euro or e-euro. And there are only three more to go after the last two announcements of the last few days.
MNBC Euro and MNBC Singapore Dollar
The most recent one was successfully completed on Thursday with the Monetary Authority of Singapore, the local central bank. This was an experiment in cross-border payment and settlement on a shared common network (multi-MNBC or m-MNBC) between the two countries. It implemented automated market-making and liquidity management functions as well as a funds blocking mechanism on two different digital currencies: the MNBC Euro and the MNBC Singapore dollar.
Trial after trial, Banque de France is becoming increasingly convinced of the benefits of blockchain, a technology for storing and sharing information without intermediaries or central control bodies:
"At present, cross-border payments are often slow and expensive. They are based on agreements involving correspondent banks. These arrangements are subject to limited transparency on exchange rates and payments are subject to the limited operating hours of payment infrastructures and potential delays due to time zone differences. To address these challenges, the experiment, which used a common m-MNBC network, aimed to facilitate real-time, 24/7 cross-border payments by eliminating the current mismatches in payment system operating hours.".
Scaling up of the multilateral platform
The national central bank also explains that this experiment paves the way for wider uses: "Although the experiment was limited to two central banks, the design of the m-MNBC network opens up the possibility of scaling up the common multilateral platform to support interactions between multiple central banks and commercial banks located in different jurisdictions."
Another experiment announced in recent days is that with Liquidshare. Founded in 2017, the French fintech specialises in distributed ledger and blockchain technology to develop innovative solutions for post-trade players, the operations carried out after transactions.
It employs 12 people in Paris and has 8 shareholders, including several European and French financial institutions: S2IEM, CDC, Société Générale, Caceis, BNP Paribas, the Dutch broker AFS, but also Euroclear and Euronext.
Full life cycle of a financial security
"The experimentation validated the delivery versus payment of listed and unlisted financial securities. The use cases tested covered the entire life cycle of a financial security, from its issuance and registration in the blockchain to the settlement of secondary market transactions. They allowed to validate all the processes throughout the day with in particular the functions of creation, control and destruction of MNBC tokens devolved to the Banque de France", explains Liquidshare.
In total, 15 entities and more than 45 participants contributed to the operations over two days: investors, Euronext as a market place, Euroclear France as a central securities depository for listed securities, brokers, custodians (retail and institutional clients).
Prepare yourself without hesitation
In a speech delivered last week at the Paris Europlace international forum, Banque de France Governor François Villeroy de Galhau stressed the need to act quickly:
"We must be prepared, without hesitation, to be able to introduce a CBM quickly should it prove necessary. In July of this year, the Governing Council could give the green light for the launch of an investigation phase, which could start in the autumn and last until 2023. At that point, the Governing Council will decide whether to launch a digital euro. We will need a few more years of serious preparatory work before an e-Euro becomes a reality."
"I repeat: when it comes to digital money and payments, we in Europe must be prepared to move as quickly as necessary or else we run the risk of eroding our monetary sovereignty - which is not acceptable. European citizens must have sustainable access to efficient and independent means of exchange. Recent experience in another area shows that we can succeed", he insisted.