The Bank of France and the Swiss National Bank of Switzerland, along with the Bank for International Settlements Innovation Hub are launching the trial of cross-border transactions using wholesale CBDC. France and Switzerland Launching Wholesale CBDC Trial The central banks of France and Switzerland are launching a cross-border wholesale digital currency trial for international payments, according to an official release published on June 10. The Bank of International Settlements (BIS) Innovation Hub is a partner of the two central banks in the trial. Additionally, private-sector players companies such as Credit Suisse Group AG, Natixis SA, R3, SIX Digital Exchange and UBS Group AG, Accenture Plc are also involved in the trial. Dubbed Project Jura, after the mountain ranges that separate France and Switzerland, the two central banks will focus on wholesale transacting using a digital Euro and a digital Swiss Franc through a payment versus payment mechanism. In the announcement release, Deputy Governor of the Banque de France Sylvie Goulard said on launching the cross-border trial: “The Eurosystem is engaging in innovation and adapting its actions to the strong trend towards the digitalization of payments. The Banque de France is convinced of the potential benefits of wholesale central bank digital currency to provide maximum security and efficiency in financial transactions.” Digital Currency Trial Exploratory in Nature Notably, the CBDC will focus on the bank-to-bank wholesale lending market rather than everyday public transactions. Wholesale digital currencies are usually limited to financial institutions that hold accounts with a central bank and are different from retail CBDCs which are available to the general public. Andréa M Maechler, the member of the governing board, Swiss National Bank, says: “It is essential for central banks to stay on top of technological developments. The Swiss National Bank is already investigating the settlement of tokenized assets with wCBDC as part of Project Helvetia. We are looking forward to expanding this analysis to a cross-border context by participating in this exciting initiative.” Meanwhile, the two banks stressed that these transactions are “exploratory in nature” and were not an indication that either the Banque de France or the Swiss National Bank plans to fully introduce the wholesale CBDC.
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