Reporting from Beijing: our reporters Wang Kejin and Zhang Youyou
Recently, multiple media reported that the People’s Bank of China’s digital currency (DC/EP) is currently undergoing internal testing at some banks. On April 17, relevant personnel from the Digital Currency Research Institute of the People's Bank of China stated that the DC/EP information currently transmitted online is test content during the technology research and development process and does not mean that the digital renminbi will be officially issued. . The current closed test of digital RMB will not affect the commercial operations of listed institutions, nor will it have any impact on the RMB issuance and circulation system, financial markets and social economy outside the test environment.
A reporter from China Business News learned in an interview that with the development of digital currency in the future, commercial banks, as important participants, will not only upgrade and change their roles, but also change in technology, channels, scenarios and other aspects. Construction and risk management and controls are subject to change. will be affected.
Digital currency has not been released yet
On April 17, people from the Central Bank’s Digital Currency Research Institute stated that digital currency research and development work is progressing steadily. Under the premise of adhering to two-level operation, M0 substitution, and controllable anonymity, the digital currency system has basically completed top-level design, standard formulation, and functional research and development. , joint debugging and testing, following the principles of stability, safety, controllability, innovation and practicality. At this stage, internal closed pilot tests have been carried out in Shenzhen, Suzhou, Xiongan, Chengdu and future Winter Olympics scenes, and functions are continuously optimized and improved.
Previously, some media reported that the central bank’s digital account currency has been implemented on a small scale. Staff in various district-level agencies, enterprises and institutions in Xiangcheng District, Suzhou City, who are paid their salaries through the four major state-owned banks of the Industrial and Peasant Construction Bank, completed the central bank digital account in April. For the installation work of the digital currency wallet, 50% of the transportation subsidy from his salary in May will be obtained in the form of digital currency.
In response to the progress of the four major banks in digital currency assessment, China Business News contacted the four major banks, but each bank remained silent on this business.
On April 3, the central bank held a video and telephone conference in Beijing, requiring it to strengthen top-level design and unswervingly promote the research and development of legal digital currency. Mu Changchun, director of the Central Bank's Digital Currency Research Institute, said that the central bank's digital currency will adopt a two-level operating system of the People's Bank of China and commercial banks, and commercial banks will be important participants in promoting the development of digital currency. Digital currency.
Talking about some of the roles banks play in the development process and application ecology of digital currency, He Fei, a senior researcher at the Bank of Communications Financial Research Center, vividly compared banks to "custodians", "salesmen" and "dealers" in an interview with reporters hour. “Four types of “scenario builders.”
"'Custodian' means that the central bank, as a currency issuing institution, establishes a central bank issuance library, and commercial banks need to keep and store the digital currency issued by the central bank; 'salesman' means that if the digital currency is to be accepted by users, banks will play a role in promoting it. Important role. The role of the "dealer" is that digital currency is similar to the operating system of a shopping mall. The central bank gives the digital currency to the bank, and the bank then gives it to the bank, which is similar to the distribution work; the "scenario builder" is the digital currency, who wants to truly play its role. To function, it must be combined with the scene, and the construction of the scene requires commercial banks to explore themselves." He Fei explained to reporters.
Our country’s digital currency adopts a two-layer operating system. The central bank issues digital currency to commercial banks or other operating institutions, which then place the digital currency on the market. In this model, what roles do the central bank and commercial banks play in role sharing?
In this regard, Guo Yuwei, a senior analyst at Industrial Research, told reporters: "Under this model, the central bank only provides issuance, settlement and other services to operating institutions, as well as customer management, e-wallet operation and maintenance and other functions." , transaction execution and monitoring are all provided by The operating agency is responsible. Not only can it avoid direct competition between the central bank and market institutions and reduce the impact of digital currency on the existing business models of commercial banks, but it can also help give full play to the advantages of operating institutions in technological innovation and customer service. "
Scenario-based retail business opportunities and challenges coexist
"Judging from current reports, the bank conducting the test designed some scenarios internally, which illustrates the importance of scenario construction for the development of digital currency." An industry insider told reporters.
The development of digital currencies will have multiple impacts on banking business. But most of the interviewees were concerned about the impact on retail banking, which relies on scenario building.
Guo Yuwei told reporters: "my country's digital currency needs to be widely used in retail scenarios, which requires a high number of transactions that can be processed per second, high scalability and concurrency, and high technical requirements." However, he also said: "The use of digital currency It is more convenient and faster than cash, which may make the amplitude and frequency of central bank digital currency changes higher than that of cash, making it more difficult to predict liquidity leaks." In addition, in order to guide the use of digital currency mainly in small-scale retail scenarios , to avoid competition with deposits, certain limits on the amount used may be required. "
In He Fei’s view: “Digital currency replaces M0 (cash in circulation). The application of digital currency will affect bank cash business. However, the current proportion of bank cash business is not particularly large, so the impact is limited. Cash business is one of the Extension. Retail business will be greatly affected, and the characteristics and scenario application requirements of digital currency micropayments can provide more development space and diversified development methods for bank retail business."
In addition, in terms of payment, the development of digital currency also has a greater impact on commercial banks. Guo Yuwei said: "The implementation of digital currency may make it more difficult for commercial banks to manage liquidity. Compared with cash, customers can obtain central bank digital currency more conveniently. This may change the frequency and speed of liquidity fluctuations." At the same time, , digital currency will improve payment settlement efficiency and shorten settlement time, especially in cross-border payment settlement, which can help both parties overcome the impact of time differences and reduce cross-border payment settlement costs. "
In addition, cash business expansion also faces other challenges. "For example, banks used to invest heavily in the construction of outlets, hardware and other channels. But when cash services become fully electronic and users turn to online channels such as mobile banking, banks' previous hardware channel construction will also face transformation tests." He Fei said.
Internet of Things technology may become one of the starting points
The implementation of central bank digital currency ultimately requires technical support.
Hao Biao, a securities analyst at Soochow Securities, believes that the development of digital currency will involve the transformation and upgrading of related IT systems, including issuance, circulation, management, etc. Hao Biao pointed out that during the issuance process, large state-owned banks currently mainly conduct internal self-research. Excluding rural commercial banks, only 200 joint-stock, urban commercial banks and foreign-funded banks will need about 2 billion yuan in future IT system transformation and upgrading needs; Transformation, taking POS as an example, the scale of transformation is expected to reach 6.57 billion yuan; in the management link, the demand for terminal hard encryption, PKI systems and encryption machines will increase, especially the demand for encryption machines is directly proportional to transaction traffic. If transaction volume increases in the future, the demand for encryption machines at financial ports alone is expected to double.
At the same time, technical challenges remain. "At present, the central bank does not have a preset technical route. Each bank can combine its own advantages and develop its own advantages. But on the other hand, each bank also needs to explore technologies that are more conducive to bank operations." Digital currency, this may Increase trial and error costs and promotion time. He Fei said.
In addition, after the implementation of digital currency, whether anti-money laundering rules, risk control technologies and methods need to be adjusted accordingly are all issues that need to be faced and solved.
It is worth mentioning that for the development of digital currency, not only commercial banks are involved, but also Internet giants, financial technology companies and other forces are competing.
Respondents believe that in the process of developing digital currencies, cooperation between commercial banks and other institutions is also very important. In this regard, He Fei said: "Commercial banks can cooperate with Internet of Things terminal companies. Internet of Things technology will become a very important technology in the application process of future digital currencies, including the currently mentioned digital currencies that do not have Internet of Things technology." Needed. Internet access, online use, etc., are all related to the development of IoT technology. Therefore, locking in IoT terminal companies in advance and cooperating with them may be one of the entry points for banks to lay out IoT terminals. Develop digital currency. "
标签： #Currency #Numbers #Banks #Central Banks #Cash
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