Digital shekel launch unlikely ahead of other advanced economy countries

The Bank of Israel (BOI) remains committed to plans for a digital shekel currency to improve Israel’s payments system and foster innovation, but is unlikely to launch one ahead of other advanced economies, according to Deputy Governor Andrew Abir. He wants an eventual central bank digital currency (CBDC) to pay interest to create competition with bank deposits and provide an incentive for the public to hold it. It will operate in a two-tier model, with a wide range of participants providing services on the digital shekel platform, including banks, plus other payment companies, fintech or bigtech companies, consumer clubs, and retail entities. Participants will support regular payment use cases, plus advanced and innovative use cases. [Read more at the BOI and Reuters]

Mobile device ownership and mobile payments in Canada

The Bank of Canada (BOC) published a paper that presents empirical findings regarding the adoption of mobile payments and digital wallets, based on a survey of Canadian adult consumers. It found that five out of six use a smartphone regularly, but they have not started to use mobile payments at the same rate as other payment innovations such as contactless cards. This is possibly because current mobile payment technology may not justify the costs of switching for consumers. However, according to the empirical evidence, providing access to payments with features similar to mobile payments to those without a mobile phone would result in usage rates exceeding the current use among mobile phone owners. Therefore, people who are unable to acquire or choose not to own a mobile device might have unmet payment needs. [Read more at the BOC]

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