Attend this session of the Central Bank Digital Currencies: International and Domestic Challenges online conference on Do we need a retail CBDC and why? 

The decline in cash suggests that the general public does not need to rely on central bank money. What is the case for retail CBDC in a setting with a large number of digital alternatives? What role should a retail CBDC assume?

Meet our speakers and chair

Christian Catalini is a co-creator of Diem (formerly Libra), and the Chief Economist of the Diem Association. He is currently on leave from his role as Associate Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he founded the MIT Cryptoeconomics Lab and designed the MIT Digital Currency Research Study. He is also a Faculty Research Fellow in the Productivity, Innovation and Entrepreneurship Program at the National Bureau of Economic Research. Christian's research focuses on blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies, and he previously worked on the economics of equity crowdfunding and startup growth, and the economics of scientific collaboration.

Scott Hendry was appointed Senior Special Director of Financial Technology (FinTech) in the Funds Management and Banking Department of the Bank of Canada in June 2016. In this role, he oversees the Bank’s efforts to monitor and research developments and implications of new technologies affecting the financial sector. This includes serving as the business lead on the Bank’s central bank digital currency research program. He previously held the role of Director of Research in the Funds Management and Banking Department and, before that, for the Financial Markets Department.

Lee McNabb leads Payment Strategy and Research for NatWest Payments. Assessing the landscape, understanding the threats and opportunities, setting the go forward direction, supporting customers across multiple brands and doing all in collaboration with internal and external partners. Lee also has extensive banking experience in product / P&L management, risk, policy setting and strategy. He joined NatWest after 13 years at the Co-operative Bank where he held senior leadership roles within product and payments.

Björn Segendorf is senior adviser at the Payment Department at Sveriges Riksbank. His main areas of expertise are retail payments, financial infrastructure and related policy issues, e.g. FinTech and innovation, the entry of non-banks and the cashless society. Björn has been leading the economic analytical work in the Riksbank’s central bank digital currency project (the e-krona) and acted as editor of the e-krona project reports. He is a member of the ECBS Market Infrastructure and Payments Committee and has participated in various BIS working groups.

John Whelan is the Director of Innovation at Banco Santander responsible for its blockchain lab. In previous roles he has been a startup founder, spent time in the management consulting world and experienced the supply curve meeting the demand curve in the trading pits at The Chicago Board Options Exchange. John has an MBA in Finance and a degree in Chemical Engineering.

More about this event

This event is part of the Central Bank Digital Currencies: International and Domestic Challenges online conference which will address current cutting edge questions related to the development and deployment of CBDC bringing together scholars, central banks, banks, and fintech companies to facilitate an inter-active and inter-disciplinary dialogue on the relationship between CBDC and new roles for central bank money.

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The Centre For Macroeconomics (@CFMUK) brings together world-class experts to carry out pioneering research on the global economic crisis and to help design policies that alleviate it.

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Twitter hashtag for this event #LSECBDC