The Central Bank has accelerated its plans to roll out a central bank digital currency (CBDC) with a pilot slated for 2021. However, Sberbank considers the two CBDC models proposed by the Central Bank to be disadvantageous to commercial banks and other financial sector entities.
As representatives from Sberbank say, one model would see regulators manage clients’ wallets on a Central Bank-run CBDC platform with banks and other financial organisations serving as mere intermediaries, helping their clients do little more than open wallets and use them to make settlements.
The second model would see the Central Bank create wallets for commercial banks, which would then be passed on to the client, with no indication as to who hosts the wallet – the commercial bank or the Central Bank.
The same representatives said that the models of CBDC issuance currently being discussed have several serious shortcomings. They limit, among other things, the activities of commercial banks. Sberbank’s concern as a financial institution is that liquidity will be transferred to the Central Bank.
To learn more about this topic, CBDCs, download our ebook Central Bank Digital Currencies for Dummies – A Quick Guide into CBDCs.
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