IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva called for faster adoption of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) to improve sluggish and costly cross-border payments at the Singapore FinTech Festival on Wednesday.
Georgieva’s Keynote Address Highlights: During her address, Georgieva emphasized the potential of CBDCs to not only replace cash, especially in island economies, but also to advance financial inclusion in regions with low bank account ownership.
She pointed out, "Adoption of CBDCs is nowhere close. But about 60% of countries are exploring them in some form today,” adding that “they must be built to facilitate cross-border payments, which are at present expensive, slow, and available to few,” South China Morning Post reported.
Singapore FinTech Festival Overview: The major technology gathering had 62,000 participants including industry leaders such as Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN), Binance (CRYPTO: BNB) and HSBC Holdings plc (NYSE: HSBC), discussing various fintech advancements.
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