The big banks have been dragging their feet on digital money, according to Reserve Bank assistant governor Brad Jones. But that might yet work in their favour, as long as they choose to innovate.
During a keynote speech at the Australian Payments Plus conference in Sydney last week, Jones reflected on banks’ general lack of engagement with digital money until they recognised the threat stablecoins could pose to their businesses.
“The day before Project Acacia, I wasn’t really getting any sense that banks were actively looking at the tokenisation of bank deposits,” Jones said, contrasting Australia’s slow-moving banks with their US counterparts, which had been leaning in as stablecoins began to circulate.
“Through Acacia, senior [bank] people are now getting engaged in a way that maybe wasn’t the case previously. I think that’s good for the country,” Jones added.
