| Masaki Bessho, Bank of Japan
| Dr Steven Hu, Standard Chartered Bank, Singapore

There are many motivations for rolling out a CBDC, from achieving higher financial inclusion and higher transactional efficiency to preserving monetary sovereignty by compensating for the declining use of cash and by countering the entrance of new private forms of digital currencies.

Each country has a different set of features and objectives that make the CBDC’s design and roll-out a tailor-made process.

In the seventh session of FNA’s CBDC Broadcast, we talked to two guest speakers from the Bank of Japan and Standard Chartered Bank Singapore, who offer an insight into CBDCs from an Asia-Pacific perspective.

The Session Covered

• An overview of CBDCs in Japan and Singapore
• The motivations and challenges, and expected outcomes of introducing a retail CBDC
• Whether there is a first-mover advantage when it comes to rolling out a CBDC
• Should CBDCs serve as a complement to or substitute for cash?
• The implications of introducing a CBDC on custodians like Standard Chartered and the securities services industry
• An insight into the Bank of Japan’s CBDC ledger design alternatives
• Can a central bank balance the delicate trade-off between the privacy of transactions and anti-money laundering considerations.
• How can central banks and relevant stakeholders assess the potential outcomes and effects that influence CBDC design choices?