Nabiullina: The digital ruble could affect banks’ business models

As part of studying the possibility of issuing the digital ruble, the Bank of Russia is conducting discussions with banks, as this could potentially affect their business models. Nabiullina said this at the Russia Calls! forum.

She added that liquidity management could become more complex.

“But the central bank is ready to calibrate its tools so that banks have no concerns,” Nabiullina said.

She also said that the revenue structure could potentially change — “the costs of individual operations will fall, but the convenience will lead to a larger volume of such operations.”

The head of the Bank of Russia noted that the regulator intends to make this system open so that, on the basis of the digital ruble, all market participants develop services and offer new services.

“In our view, there are potential benefits for the economy as a whole. It will reduce transactional costs, give businesses more payment-method choices, and contribute to the development of the digital economy,” Nabiullina said.

She stressed that the final decision on issuing the central bank’s own digital currency has not yet been taken.

Earlier, the head of the Bank of Russia said that testing of the digital ruble could begin by the end of next year.

Earlier, the Bank of Russia presented a report on the digital ruble in October.

For details on exactly how the regulator plans to implement the initiative, read ForkLog’s exclusive.

Public accessibility and traceability: how the Bank of Russia sees the digital ruble

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