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The European Central Bank (ECB) is inviting experts from the payments industry to take part in technical talks to explore options for the provision of programmable payment services as part of the digital euro.
New technical talks are being initiated by the ECB as it continues to progress with its digital euro investigation.
According to the ECB, the talks will centre around the following questions:
- Which use cases do you see as being key for programmable payment services in the area of retail payments?
- Which standards, if any, would you deem essential to foster innovation in programmable payment services?
- Which core capabilities should a back-end IT architecture for the settlement of payments offer to facilitate programmable payment services?
Stakeholders now have until November 18 to express interest to the eurozone’s central bank.
The talks are expected to take place in December 2022. They will be held at expert level in closed sessions with members of the ECB’s digital euro project team.
Observers from national central banks in the euro area will attend the sessions.
Central banks have been keeping a close watch on development of the digital euro and been actively intervening in the debate surrounding its future. For example, Deutsche Bundesbank president Joachim Nagel and executive board member Burkhard Bulz have made several recent conference appearances, contributing to panel discussions and delivering keynote speeches on the topic.
Each talk will comprise a presentation lasting approximately 20 minutes, followed by around 25 minutes for questions and answers with the digital euro project team.
The ECB has so far relied heavily on market input, which would have been welcomed by the EU’s so far sceptical payments insiders. Although many may accept that there is likely to be a digital euro, doubt remains over the need for a pan-European central bank digital currency (CBDC), beyond that of geopolitics.
Politicians have also questioned some of the choices made by the ECB in its investigation.
In September, some European parliamentarians expressed surprise and dismay at the decision of the ECB to select the e-commerce company Amazon as a partner to test and develop potential user interfaces for the digital euro as the project veers forward. Many questioned the ECB's choice of the US-based technology giant given previous stated wishes across the block to support European sovereignty around payments.
On Monday (November 7), the ECB and European Commission are co-hosting a day-long event, "Towards a legislative framework enabling a digital euro for citizens and businesses", which is taking place in Brussels.
Speakers include Fabio Panetta, parliamentarians such as Irene Tinagli (who chairs the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee), and Her Majesty, Queen Maxima, of the Netherlands.
