The Ibec group’s Financial Services Ireland (FSI) is organising a forum this Friday for its members. The purpose of the event is to hear from officials of the European Central Bank (ECB) and the Central Bank of Ireland regarding the ongoing multi-year project of a digital euro.
As it stands, the ECB is actively laying the groundwork for this potential digital currency, which is in a two-year preparation stage. A decision on its potential introduction is expected to be made towards the end of the following year, with a possible launch expected as soon as 2028.
Regulatory affairs executive of FSI, Elena Lillo, expresses a willingness to consider a digital euro, despite concerns surrounding its operation. Elena emphasizes that both regulators and members of FSI are working jointly to address these issues. She further expresses her appreciation for ECB’s commitment to transparency, inclusivity and engagement with a myriad of stakeholders.
Among the speakers at the forum will be Erik Tak, the Lead for the digital euro product proposition division at ECB, and Anne Marie McKiernan, Director of Financial Operations at the Central Bank.
The ECB remains steadfast in its stance that the digital euro is intended as an addition to physical cash rather than a replacement. It is being designed to work similarly to cash, offering extensive acceptability, high levels of privacy, immediate settlement, and the option to utilise it for offline goods and services purchases.
This proposed digital euro, if launched, could reduce the eurozone’s dependency on American-operated electronic payment systems such as Visa or Mastercard, and mitigate the rising influence of non-European online payment providers.
Additionally, the ECB published a progress report earlier this summer stating that the digital euro would function offline also, ensuring transactions can be carried out even during power cuts or in areas with low network coverage.
To constrain the potential mass migration of deposits from the banking sector to ECB-protected accounts, there exist proposals to cap the amount an individual can store in digital euro accounts – or wallets. The current proposal suggests a cap ranging from €3,000 to €4,000.