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The IMF published a Fintech Note on key findings from the Sub-Saharan Africa CBDC and Digital Payments Survey, shedding light on the motivations, benefits, and challenges of CBDC adoption, as well as the developments of digital private money and crypto assets in sub-Saharan Africa. More than 75% of the 33 central banks surveyed are engaged in-or are planning to engage in-CBDC research or pilot activities. Of these, roughly two-thirds are in the research phase, and slightly over one-third are planning to conclude their CBDC pilot programs within the next two years. More than a quarter are actively preparing to launch a CBDC by 2028, although legal challenges pose major hurdles to getting to that point. Financial inclusion, efficiency in domestic payments and facilitating remittances are the most dominant motivations for CBDC adoption. Fast payment systems and e-Money (such as mobile money) are considered as quick wins in sub-Saharan Africa, and about two-thirds of countries are in the process of implementing or considering fast payment systems that are mostly accessible through mobile phones or the internet.

If the likes of Western Union or Ria Financial Services, or MoneyGram intend to make a fist of this fight and not get swept away in the Facebook tidal wave, then it's on them to do something that they probably haven't had to do in quite some time... Win over their audience.

An Arcane Research report explains how Bitcoin (BTC) peer-to-peer (P2P) exchanges like Paxful and Localbitcoins are helping undocumented U.S. immigrants transfer money abroad using gift cards gift cards, since they circumvent banking limitations and KYC requirements. The gift cards are purchased by the immigrant at a local store. This gift card is then photographed, and the photo sent to a recipient abroad, who later sell those gift cards for BTC on a P2P exchange like Paxful or Localbitcoins. Then, they convert the BTC to local currency by selling the BTC to a buyer in the local market via one of the P2P-platforms there. https://research.arcane.no/blog/the-state-of-crypto-the-p2p-market

The 2019 data confirm that correspondent banking relationships continue to contract in number. Despite the worldwide decline, they continue to play a pivotal role for cross-border payments. The statistics cover monthly payment message data for more than 200 countries and jurisdictions from 2011 to 2019. It found that the number of active correspondent banks worldwide fell by about 3% in 2019 and about 22% between 2011 and 2019. However, the volume and value of cross-border payments continued to grow over the last eight years, suggesting a higher concentration in payment flows.

"A big appeal of QR payments is that it's relatively low-cost to adopt for merchants compared to a traditional payment terminal, therefore, enabling small and even micro-entrepreneurs to accept digital payments, but Visa is also eyeing this segment as well. The answer for them is to enable merchants to use their smartphones as a payment acceptance device."

32% of Transferwise cross-border payments now take less than 20 seconds, and half of all payments arrive within an hour. They significantly sped up Automated Clearing House (ACH) payments from the U.S. by starting ACH transfers immediately after user authorisation, and now 17% of ACH transfers from the U.S. are instant. They also completed an integration with the Malaysiaon Financial Process Exchange which speeds up payments from Malaysia. They also integrated directly with Magyar Nemzeti Bank, the second such central bank integration. The average price for using TransferWise decreased this quarter from 0.75% to 0.74%.