Highlights:

  • EMTECH teams up with Microsoft to implement the Modern Central Bank Sandbox, outfitting central banks with an innovation attitude and an innovation arsenal (toolset)
  • The collaboration focuses on empowering central banks to overcome systemic challenges

On December 14, 2020, EMTECH broke the news of its pilot-ready innovation and regulatory compliance platform called the Modern Central Bank Sandbox. The new and innovative platform focuses on central banks looking to simplify regulatory reviews, collaborate with innovators on newer technologies, or safely test their Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC).

The Modern Central Bank Sandbox by EMTECH gives more power to central banks to conquer systemic challenges that exist within the financial services (SME Lending, Exclusion, KYC, Cross-Border Payments, AML/Fraud). Additionally, it creates more room for safe innovation while offering valuable oversight and pace to market for innovative financial products.

On the progress front, EMTECH is dedicatedly working with the Central Bank of Bahamas to release its Digital Sand Dollar Currency.

Central banks in detail

Central banks at present hold USD 9 trillion in paper cash. However, in the course of digitizing paper currency with CBDC, central banks create unparallel liquidity that proves beneficial for small businesses and individuals as it maintains the central bank money as the anchor of a comprehensive and competitive financial sector.

By delivering infrastructure for digital cash, EMTECH offers central banks with an action-ready toolset for new and inclusive monetary policy and the guardrails for efficient transfer of an estimated USD 90 trillion in cash payments.

More about digital currencies

Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC) have the potential to change complete financial relationships, as per the latest Deutsche Bank Wealth Management CIO report published in September 2020.

According to Deutsche Bank, improved transaction speed, transparency, and security are extremely impactful for monetary policy and are the primary benefits of CBDC.

EMTECH’s news on being the Fintech for Central Banks works toward an actionable solution for a secure and phased implementation of such initiatives across the globe.

The enterprise currently is engaged with numerous central banks and is working collaboratively with Microsoft, the leading cloud provider.

The experts’ take

EMTECH CEO and Co-founder Carmelle Cadet said, “By enabling central banks to deploy the EMTECH Modern Central Bank Sandbox™, we help regulators leapfrog existing regulatory frameworks and systems, and adopt an innovation mindset as well as an innovation toolset.”

She adds, “Our ability to help the leaders at central banks operationalize monetary and economic policy promotes multi-stakeholder collaboration and innovation, such as exposing CBDC Test APIs for industry testing. This is why EMTECH is the Fintech of Modern Central Banking,” Cadet said. Cadet is a former IBM Corporation Business Executive with experience in enterprise software, blockchain, and global fintech innovation.

Chris Lwanga, Principal Director, Microsoft Corporation, said, “Microsoft Azure is a key enabler of the digital transformation journey of customers all over the world. We look forward to helping EMTECH on its global mission to enable accelerated central bank digital innovation, harnessed on Microsoft’s highly secure, compliant and scalable Azure platform.”