January 21st, 2022
Accelerating Exploration for CBDCs by BOJ, FRB, and ECB
- How will the digitalization of money advance? -
In our first CBDC (Central Bank Digital Currency) webinar held on March 22, 2021, we discussed the strategies and challenges in implementing CBDC in China, Cambodia, and Sweden—countries that are taking the lead in developments and operations of CBDCs. Central banks are continuing research on the advancement of various payment systems, including the introduction of system with CBDCs, as a means of more efficient and lower cost payments. Senior government officials from developed countries such as Japan, the U.S., and Europe are increasingly giving remarks on CBDCs.
In this webinar, we invited experts specialized in CBDC development trends in Japan, the U.S., and Europe to discuss the advantages and challenges of introducing CBDCs in developed countries as well as the future and actions for countries including Japan.
| Date ＆ Time | Friday, January 21, 2022, 16:00-17:30 (JST), 8:00-9:30 (CET) |
|---|---|
| Host | IIMA |
| Event Style | Virtual Event via Zoom |
| Language | Japanese (Simultaneous English translation available) |
| Progress | Lecture and Panel Discussion |
| Summary | Newsletter |
Panelists (in alphabetical order)
Masaki Bessho Presentation slides
Head of FinTech Center, Payment and Settlement Systems Department, Bank of Japan
Mr. Bessho received an LL.M. from the University of Virginia (1999) and an LL.B. from Kyoto University (1994). He is admitted to practice law in the State of New York. He has served as Head of FinTech Center since September 2021, after serving as Associate Director-General of Payment and Settlement Systems Department, Deputy Chief Representative for Europe, and Head of Financial Infrastructure Studies Division. He joined a group of seven central banks to explore CBDC as an expert.
Tetsuya Inoue Presentation slides
Senior Researcher, Financial Market and Digital Business Research Department,
Nomura Research Institute, Ltd.
Mr. Inoue received his B.A. in Economics from the University of Tokyo in 1985 and his M.A. in Economics from Yale University in 1992. In addition to serving as Director of the Foreign Exchange Division and Counselor for International Monetary and Exchange Markets at the Bank of Japan, he also served as Secretary to Governor Toshihiko Fukui and as Executive Staff to Kazuhiko Ueda, Member of the Policy Board. In 2008, he joined the Nomura Research Institute, where he conducts research on the policies of central banks in Japan, the United States, and Europe through the “Financial Markets Panel”.
Shuji Kobayakawa Presentation slides
Professor, School of Political Science and Economics, Meiji University
With a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Oxford, U.K., Prof. Kobayakawa has served as an Associate Director-General in the Bank of Japan's Planning Department and the Payment and Settlement Systems Department before assuming his current position in 2019. During his tenure at the Bank of Japan, he wrote the BIS report "Central Bank Digital Currencies" and oversaw the joint research on distributed ledger technology (Project Stellar) with the European Central Bank.
Moderator
Toshiki Iwaoka
General Manager and Chief Economist, Economic Research Department, IIMA
Mr. Iwaoka joined The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi (currently the MUFG Bank) in 1996. After working in the Economic Research Office (New York), Corporate Communications Department, and Corporate Credit Department, he assumed his current position in March 2020. He holds a B.A. in International Law from Sophia University and M.A. in leadership and strategy from London Business School.