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"The Hub is just like a global accelerator program, but for central banks, and run by the BIS, which is both a convener and adviser. In the pantheon of global agencies and regulatory associations, the Hub clearly stands out as a use case for its agile and innovative project execution capability. This is not too surprising and rather welcome - it is after all one of the oldest and most experienced collaborative innovation communities on the planet."

This Bank of Canada staff discussion paper discusses the competition and innovation arguments for issuing a central bank digital currency (CBDC). A CBDC could be an effective competition policy tool for payments. On innovation, it argues that a CBDC could be necessary to support the vibrancy of the digital economy by helping solve market failures and fostering competition and innovation in new digital payments markets. Overall, the paper finds that competition and innovation are valid supporting arguments for issuing a CBDC.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) launched a S$1.75 million MAS Global FinTech Innovation Challenge to seek innovative solutions that can help financial institutions respond to COVID-19 and climate change challenges. It will be hosted entirely on the API Exchange (APIX), a cloud-based innovation platform, which will allow these solutions to be curated, contextualised, and validated.

According to a special chapter of the BIS Annual Economic Report, digital innovation is radically reshaping the provision of payment services, and central banks are embracing this innovation. They promote interoperability, support competition and innovation, and operate public infrastructures - all essential for easily accessible, low-cost and high-quality payment services. And central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) can foster competition among private sector intermediaries, set high standards for safety and risk management, and serve as a basis for sound innovation in payments.

Bank of Ghana (BoG) in collaboration with EMTECH has launched an eCedi hackathon, to provide opportunities for Fintechs, developers and innovators to design innovative solutions that explore various use cases of a central bank digital currency (CBDC). The event is set to run for 12 weeks, during which innovators will brainstorm to come up with solutions to address financial inclusion challenges in Ghana. The proposed innovations are expected to leverage eCedi tokens and APIs to prototype solutions or develop tools that address various use cases.

"FINANCIAL AND TECNPOLOGICAL INNOVATIONS LABORATORY (LIFT) is an applied research laboratory, configured as a virtual collaborative environment. LIFT aims to foster technological innovation research projects related to the financial industry and supervisory and regulatory activities carried out by the Central Bank of Brazil with the objective of introducing mechanisms for improvement and innovation. As part of LIFT, the LIFT paper magazine is a biannual publication containing the result of the projects developed in laboratories and articles of experts on topics related to innovation in the National Financial System. "

The NY Fed is looking for a Director of its NY Innovation Center, an office within the NY Fed that harnesses expertise and resources from across the Federal Reserve to collaborate globally with private and public sector institutions on projects, initiatives and activities that promote financial sector innovation. A principal function will be to collaborate with the Innovation Hub of the Bank for International Settlements on Fintech issues of importance to the central banking community.

The New York Fed launched the New York Innovation Center (NYIC), to advance a strategic partnership with the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) Innovation Hub. As part of the New York Fed, the NYIC is collaborating with the Federal Reserve System, the BIS Innovation Hub, and public and private sector experts to validate, design, build, and launch new financial technology products and services for the central bank community.

The OCC Innovation Pilot Program would be offered only to OCC-regulated banks that need regulatory guidance on offering an innovative product or service to the market. A bank can partner with a fintech firm in the pilot or the bank can join others in offering a consortium-backed idea. The program is distinctly different from the OCC's new special-purpose charter that is open to a nonbank fintechs.

The National Bank of Romania has launched a Fintech Innovation Hub, described as "a platform for dialogue with companies developing innovative public interest solutions in the area of payment and financial services.

The G20 and the Bank for International Settlements Innovation Hub launched the G20 TechSprint Initiative to highlight the potential for new technologies to resolve regulatory compliance (RegTech) and supervision (SupTech) challenges. The BIS Innovation Hub published high-priority RegTech/SupTech operational problems and invited private firms to develop innovative technological solutions. The problem statements identify challenges in regulatory reporting, analytics, and monitoring and supervision, and have been developed from submissions received from Financial Stability Board member jurisdictions.

The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) and the Bank of England today launched the BIS Innovation Hub London Centre. The Hub's work program is currently focused on the use of technological innovation in supervision and regulation (suptech and regtech); next-generation financial market infrastructures; central bank digital currency (CBDC); open finance; cyber security; and green finance. Work related to these themes is distributed across the various Hub Centres.

The New York State Department of Financial Services has joined the Global Financial Innovation Network. Launched by the U.K.'s Financial Conduct Authority, GFIN is a network of 50 international organizations committed to supporting financial innovation in the best interests of consumers.

The BIS Innovation Hub (BISIH) and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) have launched a TechChallenge designed to showcase the potential for new innovative technologies to resolve problems in trade finance (TradeTech). It is supported by the Asian Development Bank, the International Chamber of Commerce, the International Institute of Finance, the People's Bank of China and the Wolfsberg Group.The BISIH has published three problem statements and invites private firms to develop technology solutions: (i) connecting digital islands and increasing network size and effects, (ii) trade finance inclusion for SMEs, and (iii) TradeTech for emerging markets.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced measures targeted to boost digital payments, enhance the scope of priority sector lending, and drive innovation in the broader financial ecosystem. The central bank will soon roll out several of these projects targeted primarily to overcome the impediments faced by a large part of the country in accessing financial services due to digital and technology disparity seen across districts. For example, In order to further promote and facilitate an environment that can accelerate innovation across the financial sector, Reserve Bank will set up an Innovation Hub in India. A scheme of retail payments in offline mode using cards and mobile devices, and a system of on online dispute resolution (ODR) mechanism for digital payments will also be introduced. https://www.rbi.org.in/Scripts/BS_PressReleaseDisplay.aspx?prid=50174

The New York State Department of Financial Services and France's Autorite de Controle Prudentiel et de Resolution will work to "ease the entry" for fintech innovators into their respective markets. The aim is to encourage innovation in the financial services markets by supporting financial firms that abide by their respective regulations, while still protecting consumers. The NYDFS and ACPR will refer fintech innovators to each other to, in principle, improve speed to market. https://www.dfs.ny.gov/reports_and_publications/press_releases/pr202006031

"The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) today announced that it will commit up to S$150 million over three years under the renewed Financial Sector Technology and Innovation Scheme (FSTI 3.0). FSTI 3.0 seeks to accelerate and strengthen innovation by supporting projects that involve the use of cutting-edge technologies or with a regional nexus, while doubling down on MAS' commitment to promote a vibrant technology ecosystem for the financial sector."

"This World Bank note examines the implications of digital innovation for market structure and attendant policies, including financial and competition regulation. There have been several surveys of regulatory responses. This note takes a step back, to look at what the economic theory of banking and financial intermediation can tell us about how technology may drive industrial organization in the sector, and how that might inform further policy responses. The paper roots the impact of the digital transformation of finance in innovations that have enabled providers to address long-standing challenges of financial intermediation, including asymmetric information, uncertainty, incomplete markets, and fixed and variable costs of production. The paper describes how digital innovation affects these key economic frictions in finance and alters the financial services value chain and industrial organization. The forces driving these changes, and potential outcomes in terms of industry structure, lead to insights for policy makers on how to harness the benefits of fintech, while mitigating some of the risks, particularly around competition and market structure. The focus is on economic and technological forces that apply broadly across financial services. It recognizes that the sector encompasses a wide range of different products and services and is composed of numerous sub-markets that might use different technologies or have different economic structures. These may thus diverge in market structure and competition outcomes."

The BIS Innovation Hub (BISIH) has unveiled its 2023 work program. This includes previously unannounced projects on stablecoins, DeFi and CBDC, including Project Pyxtrial at the London Centre that will monitor stablecoins to ensure that the backing assets at least match the stablecoin issuance. And "going into its fourth year of life, the BIS Innovation Hub is reaching a cruising altitude, with 21 ongoing and five concluded projects. The Hub will increase the integration of its global network with additional cross-centre projects such as Mariana, which connects the Singapore, Swiss and upcoming Eurosystem centres, and others." https://www.bis.org/about/bisih/about.htm?m=1%7C441%7C713

"tl;dr: DeFi cannot be permissionless, allow arbitrary innovation and comply with any meaningful regulations. You can only choose two of those properties. If you accept a limited form of innovation you can have two-and-a-half of them."