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The winners of the the HKMA and the Bank for International Settlements Innovation Hub TechChallenge, launched in August 2020, were announced. The TechChallenge, which explored innovative solutions to address challenges in trade finance, received a total of 103 solutions. The ten winners will have the opportunity to materialise their proposed solutions through prototype development in 2021.

The U.S. Justice Department has sued to block Visa's $5.3 billion acquisition of bank data sharing startup Plaid, citing competition concerns. It claims that "Visa is a monopolist in online debit transactions, extracting billions of dollars in fees annually from merchants and consumers. Plaid, a financial technology firm with access to important financial data from over 11,000 U.S. banks, is a threat to this monopoly: it has been developing an innovative new solution that would be a substitute for Visa's online debit services. By acquiring Plaid, Visa would eliminate a nascent competitive threat that would likely result in substantial savings and more innovative online debit services for merchants and consumers.

This article spells out how to build a USD stablecoin legal basis by leveraging the core commercial law principles of (i) focusing on the principles of settlement finality, (ii) rules for adverse claims, (iii) discharge of the underlying obligation, and (iv) the concept of a security entitlement. It maps out how these principles are embodied under the U.S. commercial laws of investment securities (UCC Article 8) and of payments (UCC Articles 3, 4, and 4A). The goal in doing so is to show how innovators can incorporate novel, technology-driven market practices and business models into the existing financial law framework in a proven and effective way - how to leverage what is working today and does not need to be invented again. Awareness of the availability of these commercial law tools, and their limitations, can provide important help to stablecoin developers and market participants in managing their exposure, designing efficient financial innovations, and controlling the risk to the broader financial market.

The Central Bank of Bahrain, in cooperation with the Bahrain Economic Development Board, Bank ABC, ila Bank, BENEFIT, National Bank of Bahrain and Bahrain Islamic Bank launched FinHub 973, the first comprehensive digital fintech lab in the region. FinHub 973 will enable financial institutions to organize virtual hackathons and challenges to accelerate innovation and business growth. The platform will also provide content on the fintech sector financial and the relevant laws and regulations in the Kingdom of Bahrain, through an interactive chatbot.

Since its first cohort in 2016, the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) Regulatory Sandbox has supported 14 digital ID models. Also, there have been 15 applications for Direct Support to the FCA Innovation Hub and 6 of these are now receiving that support. Many other digital ID providers have engaged with the FCA through various channels such as the Anti-Money Laundering TechSprints. The FCA, in collaboration with The City of London, has also recently completed a pilot Digital Sandbox, which provides data access and a digital testing environment to help innovative businesses develop proof of concept. Two digital ID propositions participated in the pilot.

The U.K. Financial Conduct Authority and the City of London will collaborate on the pilot of a digital sandbox to support innovative firms tackling COVID-19 challenges. It will supply relevant high-quality data sets and expertise in the areas of detecting and preventing fraud and scams, supporting vulnerable customers, and improving access to finance for SMEs financially affected by the pandemic.

This article reflects on the effects of technological change on financial intermediation, distinguishing between innovations in information (data collection and processing) and communication (relationships and distribution). Both follow historic trends towards an increased use of hard information and less in-person interaction, which are accelerating rapidly. The article point to more recent innovations, such as the combination of data abundance and artificial intelligence, and the rise of digital platforms. It argues that in particular the rise of new communication channels can lead to the vertical and horizontal disintegration of the traditional bank business model. Specialized providers of financial services can chip away activities that do not rely on access to balance sheets, while platforms can interject themselves between banks and customers. We discuss limitations to these challenges, and the resulting policy implications.

This IMF paper studies the effects of technological change on financial intermediation, distinguishing between innovations in information (data collection and processing) and communication (relationships and distribution). Both follow historic trends towards an increased use of hard information and less in-person interaction, which are accelerating rapidly. It points to more recent innovations, such as the combination of data abundance and artificial intelligence, and the rise of digital platforms. It argues that in particular the rise of new communication channels can lead to the vertical and horizontal disintegration of the traditional bank business model. Specialized providers of financial services can chip away activities that do not rely on access to balance sheets, while platforms can interject themselves between banks and customers.

A payments revolution has prompted a proliferation of shadow digital money. This money is unsound. It is not insured by the government, nor is it backed by safe assets. Federal regulation is needed to guarantee safety and soundness, to restore full monetary control to the Federal Reserve, and to prevent a race to the bottom between competing state and federal regulatory regimes. The OCC should recommend that Congress enact new legislation that requires MSBs to back their monetary liabilities 1:1 with bank deposits. With this change, innovation in payments would be just that-innovation in payments-and not also unauthorized and unsound money issuance.

EMTECH is rolling out its new Modern Central Bank Sandbox, which will help to streamline regulatory reviews and test central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). The platform will also help central banks that want to collaborate with innovators on new technology, and enabling them to innovate safely with effective oversight and quicker time to market. EMTECH also aims to provide central banks with an infrastructure for digital cash. For example, EMTECH is currently working with the Central Bank of the Bahamas on its Digital Sand Dollar Currency.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announced three enhancements to its FinTech Regulatory Sandbox framework to further catalyze financial innovation and FinTech adoption. Eligibility criteria will be expanded beyond first movers to include early adopters of technology innovation, the application process for financial grants will be streamlined, and there will be a "Deal Fridays" to help sandbox companies access the external investor community, to benefit from the network, mentorship, and funding.

Tony Richards, Head of Payments Policy at the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) revealed that RBA staff are still not convinced that a strong policy case has emerged in Australia for a retail CBDC. Australia's existing electronic payments system already provides households and businesses with a wide range of safe, convenient and low-cost payment services. Also, much (if not all) of the innovation and new functionality that could potentially be enabled by a CBDC could in principle also be enabled by innovation based around commercial bank deposit accounts, e-money or stablecoins. But given the possibility that the balance could shift towards a case for issuance of retail CBDCs, the RBA has been stepping up its CBDC research.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) will be working with five regulatory technology (regtech) entities for the Business Research and Innovation Initiative (BRII) Regulatory Technology (Regtech) Round. ASIC's challenge in this latest round is to explore the potential of using technology to help identify and assess poor market disclosure by listed companies.

According to its 2022-24 Strategic Plan, the Bank of Namibia will be assessing the viability of central bank digital currency (CBDC). This is part of a plan to automate, modernize and facilitate efficiency utilizing technology. The central bank also plans to set up an innovation hub to provide a conducive environment for the incubation of new fintech concepts without stifling start-ups and innovators, but doing so in a regulatorily responsible manner.

The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) published a paper on cross-border payment system interoperability. It illustrates the public and private sector options using four stylized models, ordered in increasing complexity and cost but also greater efficiency - a single access point, bilateral link, hub and spoke or a common platform (see below). The BIS Innovation Hub is putting theory into practice with several innovative projects to foster interoperability across the four stylized models.

UK Finance and Oliver Wyman published a report that looks at how securities tokenization will transform capital markets. It recommends that the government and industry foster a flourishing UK digital market by promoting interoperability and safe innovation at scale, to enable innovation and experimentation, underpinned by legal and regulatory certainty.

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York's New York Innovation Center (NYIC), in collaboration with members of the U.S. financial services sector, published the findings of a proof of concept (PoC) that explored the feasibility of an interoperable network for wholesale payments operating on a shared multi-entity distributed ledger. The research project, undertaken jointly with private sector organizations, experimented with the concept of a regulated liability network (RLN), a theoretical payment infrastructure designed to support the exchange and settlement of regulated digital assets. The experiment successfully simulated both the domestic and cross-border scenarios, identifying shared ledger technology as a potential solution to support payment innovation.

"Surely it would be possible for Scotland to embrace the next wave of change in the technology of money (digital currency) and generate yet more innovation. The regulatory environment has been changing to encourage competition in Europe, the Scots could build on this. The European Commission's Directive on Electronic Money, the Payment Services Directives have already created the institutions - the Electronic Money Institutions (ELMI) and the Payment Institution (PI) to allow Scotland to drive innovation forward."

"Innovative technology built specifically to enable CBDCs with full customisation. Inclusive, easy, convenient and affordable ledger-stored account CBDC access for banked, unbanked and underbanked - Seamless Consecutive Offline payments, Privacy, Interoperability and Innovation "

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Bank for International Settlements Innovation Hub (BISIH) have launched the fourth edition of the G20 TechSprint, a global technology competition to promote innovative solutions aimed at improving cross-border payments. Developers from around the world should submit application from May 04, 2023 to June 04, 2023 and the TechSprint will conclude around August/ September 2023. The 2023 TechSprint will focus on AML/CFT/Sanctions technology solutions to reduce illicit finance risk, FX and liquidity technology solutions to enable settlement in emerging market and developing economy (EMDE) currencies, and technology solutions for multilateral cross-border CBDC platforms.