China and Singapore can initially focus on the retail sector when cooperating on central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) and electronic payments, said Zhou Xiaochuan, a former governor of China’s central bank. He added that this would be a comparatively safer and more efficient way of testing out CBDCs.
Zhou made the remarks via video at a Monday meeting in Southwest China’s Chongqing municipality.
Zhou said central banks across the world have different strategies for developing their CBDCs, with some focusing on settlement and payment in financial markets, while some others focus on cross-border remittances. But users have less urgent needs in those fields than in retail payments, Zhou said.
In addition, different governments’ regulations on exchange rates and anti-money laundering would also likely interfere with the convenience of using CBDCs for cross-border payments if they are not used for retail repayments, Zhou said.
