Retail Central Bank Digital Currencies: Implications for Banking and Financial Stability

Infante, Sebastian; Kim, Kyungmin; Orlik, Anna; Silva, André F.; Tetlow, Robert J.

doi:10.17016/FEDS.2023.072

Working Paper

Retail Central Bank Digital Currencies: Implications for Banking and Financial Stability

Abstract: This paper reviews the literature examining how the introduction of a retail CBDC would affect the banking sector and financial stability. A CBDC has the potential to improve welfare by reducing financial frictions, countering market power in deposit markets and enhancing the payment system. However, a CBDC also entails noteworthy risks, including the possibility of bank disintermediation and associated contraction in bank credit, as well as potential adverse effects on financial stability. The recycling of the new CBDC liability through asset purchases or lending by the central bank plays an important role in determining the economic consequences of the introduction of a CBDC. A CBDC also raises important questions regarding the footprint of central banks in the financial system. Ultimately, the effects of a CBDC depend critically on its design features, of which remuneration is the one discussed most often in the literature.

Keywords: Central bank digital currency; Bank disintermediation; Financial stability; Central bank balance sheet; Payment system;

JEL Classification: E40; G20; E50;

https://doi.org/10.17016/FEDS.2023.072