How worried should we be by the privacy implications of central bank digital currencies?
On Tuesday 19 October at 3pm, the Economic Affairs Committee will hold its second meeting to hear oral evidence on Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs). In the first session, the Committee will hear from David Birch, advisor and commentator on digital financial services and Stephen Bonner, Executive Director, Regulatory Futures and Innovation, Information Commissioner’s Office.
In the second session, the Committee will hear from Andrew Cregan, Head of Finance Policy, British Retail Consortium. The committee’s inquiry is looking at the main issues confronting HM Treasury and the Bank of England as they explore the potential of a possible CBDC for the UK. It will also examine how a CBDC might affect the role of the Bank, monetary policy and the financial sector.
Meeting details
Likely questions
Topics the committee is likely to cover in these sessions include:
- The privacy implications of CBDC.
- The data the Bank of England needs to protect, who it needs to protect it from, and the degree to which it should protected.
- How CBDC could enhance the state’s ability to prevent money laundering and tax evasion.
- Whether digital currencies could trigger financial instability and should be regulated as a “matter of urgency”.
- Benefits CBDC could bring to the retail sector.
- How banks are responding to the threat of digital currencies and competition from Big Tech in payments.
Last week the committee took evidence from: Simon Gleeson, Partner, Clifford Chance; Professor Darrell Duffie, Adams Distinguished Professor of Management and Professor of Finance, Stanford University; Natasha de Teran, Member of the Financial Services Consumer Panel; and Georges Elhedery, Group Executive and Co-CEO of Global Banking & Markets, HSBC. You can watch these evidence sessions on Parliament TV