In , the digital is becoming a reality By Mark Kruger August 21, 2020 – CIGI

After more than five years of intensive design particularly well developed. The two dominant work, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) has platforms — Alibaba’s and ’s started to pilot its . In southern WeChat Pay — had 890 million users in 2018. , eastern , mid-western As a Chinese resident, having downloaded the , and northern Xiong’an, public two companies’ apps and linked them to my servants and employees of state-owned credit card, I use my phone to shop anywhere, institutions are receiving a small amount of from upscale malls to street vendors. All I need their remuneration in the digital renminbi, to do is scan the ubiquitous Alipay or WeChat which can be spent at a host of retail stores and Pay QR codes and enter the purchase price. restaurants. Almost immediately, a mechanized voice The PBOC is hardly unique among central informs the vendor that a purchase of a banks in working to develop a digital currency, particular amount has been made. I really but it is one of the most advanced. According never have to carry . Indeed, I see far to a survey carried out by the Bank for fewer automated teller machines in Chinese International Settlements (BIS) late last year, cities than in their North American and while 80 percent of central banks are engaged European counterparts, because there is really in some sort of digital currency research and no need for people like me to refill our wallets development, only 10 percent have progressed with bills. to pilot projects. Moreover, 70 percent of the The rise of mobile payments has meant greater banks say that they are unlikely to issue digital convenience for consumers, but it has been an currencies, even in the medium term. even bigger boon for Chinese merchants, Figure 1: Banknotes and Coins in Circulation especially the smaller ones. Consider Mrs. Ma, (as a % of GDP) who makes delicious Shandong-style savoury pancakes (a typical breakfast snack) at her street-side stall by my local subway station. Mobile payments allow her to continue serving the queue of commuters without having to take off her cooking gloves and count change. Indeed, most of her customers have already scanned her QR code before they arrive at Mrs. Data sources: BIS and Yicai Global. Ma’s griddle to tell her whether they want hot The PBOC is being motivated, in part, by rapid sauce, spring onions or lettuce on their domestic financial innovation, which has led to pancakes. Mrs. Ma no longer has to spend time the declining use of cash. Data from the BIS managing her cash. She need not worry about shows that the ratio of banknotes and coins in the risks of theft or loss, as her sales have been circulation to GDP is rising in the United instantly credited to her Alipay and WeChat States and the euro area. However, it is falling Pay accounts. sharply in China, where consumers are Given how well the existing system of mobile abandoning cash for mobile payments made payments works for China’s consumers and via their cellphones (Figure 1). China’s mobile vendors, why is the PBOC keen to issue its payment infrastructure has become own digital currency? 2

First, a digital renminbi could stem the loss of remains the liability of the . The seigniorage that arises from the decline in the PBOC has stressed that the digital renminbi is use of cash. Second, it could mitigate the essentially a digital banknote and it will not competitive and operational risks involved pay interest. An interest-bearing digital with having two private companies process a renminbi would have the potential to lead to large and growing share of China’s retail disintermediation, as consumers could move payments. Third, it could enhance financial out of interest-bearing bank deposits for the inclusion. Anyone who lacks access to the more convenient mobile currency. Such Alipay and WeChat Pay platforms — for disintermediation could force the banks to example, the elderly, residents of rural areas raise interest rates to retain depositors. and visitors from overseas — can run into However, keeping funding costs low and stable problems paying with cash or credit cards. is an important consideration in China, where Indeed, in 2018, the PBOC had to crack small banks typically have challenges in down on retailers who refused to accept cash. raising deposits. The PBOC’s work on the digital renminbi is Given how well China’s mobile payment also likely motivated by the advent of system is already working, will there really be cryptocurrencies and Libra. It sees the digital a demand for the digital renminbi? renminbi as an issue of national currency The digital renminbi offers three advantages sovereignty and wants to assume a leading role compared to the existing mobile payment in digital currency development rather than system: lower cost, greater anonymity and play catch-up to innovation taking place reduced reliance on the internet. elsewhere. Merchants like Mrs. Ma are charged volume- The digital renminbi is centrally managed and based fees for her customers’ use of the Alipay account-based. It is not a decentralized token and WeChat Pay systems. Moreover, while she system like bitcoin. Nor is it blockchain-based, can freely use the balances of her Alipay and as blockchain technology cannot keep pace WeChat Pay accounts to purchase goods and with China’s tremendous volume of mobile services, Mrs. Ma would be charged an payments. additional fee should she wish to take them The digital renminbi is designed to leverage outside of their systems, for example, to the existing mobile payments infrastructure deposit these balances in her bank. In contrast, and is not being set up as a parallel system. no fees are associated with the use of the digital Individuals need not open new accounts; they renminbi, just as with any other form of cash. simply download the digital wallet app to their Currently, consumers must provide personal cellphones and link it to their bank cards. Their information in order to access the Alipay and financial institutions, who will have bought the WeChat Pay payment systems, but the digital digital currency from the PBOC at 1:1, provide renminbi will provide for “controllable them with the digital renminbi by debiting their anonymity.” Small-value transactions will be, bank accounts. essentially, anonymous. However, the PBOC The PBOC is being careful to ensure that the is looking to strike a balance between the digital renminbi has a minimal impact on public’s desire for privacy and the need to monetary policy and financial stability. prevent money laundering, terrorism financing Financial institutions will have to provide 100 and tax evasion. This will be done by limiting percent backing to use the digital currency. the size of the digital wallets and setting limits This backing ensures that no additional money on the value of transactions that can be made is created, and that the digital renminbi 3 in the absence of providing personal The digital currency could accelerate the identification. internationalization of the renminbi. In The Alipay and WeChat Pay systems typically addition to addressing the domestic concerns rely on internet connections — either Wi-Fi or noted above, there is potential for it to be the cellular — to connect a credit card to the platform of choice for small, cross-border vendor’s account. While the digital renminbi payments. Remittances are incredibly app allows the full range of payment options expensive; for example, a recent report by the currently available through Alipay and World Bank estimates that it currently costs WeChat Pay, it also permits a Bluetooth- US$13.58 to remit US$200. With the digital enabled transfer of funds that will not depend renminbi, the cost of remittances would on internet connectivity. Alipay and WeChat essentially fall to zero. Pay permit users to load money from their PBOC Governor Yi Gang has emphasized that bank accounts on to their phones and pay via the digital renminbi has not yet been officially Bluetooth, in case internet connectivity is lost. issued and that there is no timetable for its full As there is a cost to re-depositing these funds, rollout. However, he recently suggested that transaction balances on phones are typically further piloting could take place at the 2022 kept low. In contrast, users of the digital Beijing Winter Olympics — a perfect renminbi would not incur such transaction fees environment for foreign visitors to test China’s and one could imagine that they would carry digital currency. larger balances. Mark Kruger is the opinion editor at Yicai Global, and a senior fellow at CIGI, the Yicai Institute and the University of Alberta’s China Institute.