Edwin Bautista, president and chief govt of UnionBank of the Philippines, has forecast that the coronavirus outbreak will drive banks to shift in
Edwin Bautista, president and chief govt of UnionBank of the Philippines, has forecast that the coronavirus outbreak will drive banks to shift in direction of digital currencies, leaving bodily money behind.
As Euromoney reported on April 3, Bautista famous that the pandemic provoked a heightened demand in on-line banking companies, pushing banks to revise their digitization technique. “Definitely, this pandemic amplifies the necessity for all banks to go digital now,” Bautista mentioned.
Going additional, the exec projected the start of the tip of arduous money, particularly if central banks fail to ship notes and cash to banks and automatic teller machines. Bautista acknowledged:
“One key realization right here is that the longer the disruption, the extra tenuous the standard money provide chain turns into. Thus I count on that banks will probably be extra open to testing, growing and deploying digital money and currencies, QR codes and perhaps even cryptocurrencies and digital tokens.”
“The disaster will quick monitor the shift in direction of digital,” which “represents an incredible new alternative for banking,” in accordance with Bautista.
UnionBank’s experiments with blockchain
UnionBank has certainly demonstrated a proactive method to blockchain-related developments. Final July, the financial institution launched a payments-focused stablecoin pegged to the Philippine peso. The coin, dubbed PHX, is designed to perform as “a steady retailer of worth, medium of trade and is a programmable token with self-executing logic.”
That very same month, UnionBank efficiently piloted a blockchain-based cross-border remittance from the Philippines to Singapore. The venture finally goals to supply tens of millions of unbanked Filipinos with the power to make use of monetary companies by connecting rural banks to the nation’s major monetary community.
In the meantime, different world banks proceed to advance the event of their very own digital currencies. The Financial institution of France formally launched an experimental program to check the combination of a central financial institution digital forex (CBDC) for interbank settlements, whereas the Bahamas introduced plans to undertake a CBDC no later than 2020.