Bank of England to open up to tech companies: Positive Money response

Responding to Mark Carney’s announcement that the Bank of England will consult on opening up its reserve accounts to non-bank payments providers, David Clarke, head of policy at Positive Money said:

“It is right that access to the Bank of England’s infrastructure does not remain the sole privilege of traditional banks. As such opening up the central banks’ vaults to payment providers would be a welcome move, though it may be an incomplete solution.

“If we are prepared to give payment providers the ability to store money directly at the central bank, it raises the question of why this privilege shouldn’t be extended to individual citizens as well as other firms. Doing so, through the issuance of a central bank digital currency, would truly open up our money system and put individuals on a level footing with big banks and tech companies.

“The future of the money and payments system is in flux, with tech companies like Facebook launching bids to wrest control from traditional banks. Amid this upheaval, there is a need for a safe, public option in the form of a central bank digital currency.”

Commenting on the future of finance report’s recommendation that the Bank of England should encourage widespread adoption of and monitor climate risk disclosure, Clarke said:

“With a small window of time to decarbonise the economy, there is an urgent need for companies to dramatically improve their climate risk disclosures. The level of uptake of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures’ (TCFD) recommendations must be rapidly accelerated, and the only way to ensure this is to make them mandatory for all firms.

The future of finance report calls on the Bank of England to up its game on climate and consider introducing mandatory disclosure in partnership with the government. Such a recommendation is extremely timely and the Bank must respond accordingly.”

About Positive Money 

Positive Money campaigns for a money and banking system which supports a fair, democratic and sustainable economy. Set up in the aftermath of the financial crisis, Positive Money is a not-for-profit company funded by charitable trusts and foundations, as well as small donations from its network of over 65,000 supporters.

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