Federal bank regulatory agencies today issued a statement summarizing their interagency "policy sprints" focused on crypto-assets and providing a roadmap of future work related to crypto-assets. In particular, the statement describes the focus of the preliminary work conducted through the sprints undertaken by the agencies. It summarizes the agencies' plan to provide greater clarity throughout 2022 on whether certain crypto-related activities conducted by banking organizations are legally permissible, and related expectations for safety and soundness, consumer protection, and compliance with...

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Framework assesses security and efficiency of electronic payments, including electronic wallets and crypto-asset-related services ECB calls for swift progress on overseeing global digital payment solutions and stablecoins Overseen companies to adhere to new principles within one year The ECB’s Governing Council has approved a new oversight framework for electronic payments following a public consultation. The framework is designed to make the current and future payments ecosystem safer and more efficient, as part of the ECB’s statutory task to promote...

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To continue playing its role as the anchor of the monetary system, central bank money will need to respond to evolving needs, says Executive Board member Fabio Panetta. This means that we must intensify the work on central bank digital currencies. Just as the postage stamp became less relevant with the arrival of the internet and email, so too could cash lose relevance in a digital economy. The use of cash in payments is declining as people increasingly prefer to...

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With more than a century of consumer protection experience under our belt, we at the FTC know that hard times for American families can be boom times for scammers. Today’s COVID-19 pandemic is the latest crisis creating fertile ground for fraud – and scammers today have a new and powerful weapon: social media platforms. These platforms generally earn their revenue by targeting users with advertising. The more time we spend on platforms consuming content and revealing valuable personal information,...

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The European Commission has adopted a Communication on a competition policy fit for new challenges, which frames the important role of competition policy for Europe's path towards recovery, the green and digital transitions, and for a resilient Single Market. The Communication highlights the in-built ability of competition policy to adapt to new market circumstances, policy priorities and customer needs: for example, today, the Commission has adopted the sixth amendment of the State aid Temporary Framework to enable Member States to provide targeted support...

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Careful calibration of spending and tax policies can reduce inequality caused by automation. For many observers, automation has been responsible for both strong economic growth and rising inequality in many countries in recent decades. Automation raises productivity, but it can exacerbate inequality. This is because it replaces low-skilled workers and helps owners of capital earn bigger monopoly rents. And with the advent of next-level automation in the form of robots, the challenge is more pressing than ever. 'Fiscal policy instruments can reduce...

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Introductory remarks by Fabio Panetta, Member of the Executive Board of the ECB, at the ECON Committee of the European Parliament | Madam Chair, honourable members of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, Thank you for inviting me to report on the investigation phase of the digital euro project, which we started in October. I am happy to finally meet at least some of you in person, once again. Our interactions started a year ago when we published the Eurosystem...

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Speech by Luis de Guindos, Vice-President of the ECB at the 24th Euro Finance Week | Frankfurt am Main, 15 November 2021 | Good evening to you all. I am honoured to take part in the 24th Euro Finance Week. Since I joined the ECB in 2018, we have been gathering at this event every year to discuss the recent financial and economic developments in the euro area and beyond. As we are going to publish our Financial Stability Review...

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Chair, honourable members, Before going to the Trade and Technology Council itself, let me first zoom out and outline why the year 2021 has been a landmark year for transatlantic relations. We have successfully pressed the reset button with the Biden administration. After the grounding of the Airbus-Boeing dispute at the EU-U.S. Summit in June, we also agreed to hit the pause button on the steel and aluminium trade dispute. Our agreement includes starting discussions on a new Global Arrangement on Sustainable Steel...

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