John Kiff was a Senior Financial Sector Expert at the IMF from 2005 to 2021, focusing on financial stability and fintech issues, and OTC derivatives. Before that, he was at the Bank of Canada for 25 years where he managed the funding and investment of the government’s foreign exchange reserves.

Kiffmeister Consulting provides advice to central banks and international financial institutions on digital currencies. It also publishes a daily update on fintech and digital payments developments, and a monthly report on central bank digital currency (CBDC) exclusively for official institutions.

CBDC Academy : CBDC: The 360 Degree Global Overview

This presentation will provide a global view of retail CBDC developments. It will start by defining what a retail CBDC is and is not, reviewing which central banks are doing what, why and how. The presentation will cover key design features, and how central banks are trying to navigate often conflicting goals, such as meeting user needs for payments privacy versus complying with financial integrity regulations, and designing retail CBDCs that are attractive to potential users while mitigating bank disintermediation risk. It will conclude with a review of open questions that continue to flummox retail CBDC designers.