On March 31 2021, invited by the Finance Programme of the Division of Business and Management, Dr.Oriol Caudevilla (柏傲齊博士), FinTech Advisor, Management & Strategy Consultant and Researcher, delivered a lecture titled “China´s Digital Yuan: Analysis and Opportunities for the Greater Bay Area and for China´s Cross-Border Transactions” to DBM staff and students.  Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Caudevilla presented this lecture online. Dr. Minyu Wu, Programme Director of Finance, hosted the lecture.

FIN Programme Director, Dr. Minyu Wu delivered welcome speech 

Dr. Caudevilla holds a MBA in Finance, a PhD from Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB). He works as a Chief Strategy Officer at ScallopX, Management Consultant at AirHelp, Advisor for a Hong Kong-based FinTech company, ixFintech, Strategic Advisor at a Hong Kong-based WealthTech company.  He is member of the Blockchain, Digital Banking and Greater Bay Area Committees at the Fintech Association of Hong Kong (FTAHK), as well as the Singapore Fintech Association (SFA).  The main areas of Dr. Caudevilla’s research include central bank digital currencies, blockchain in trade finance and artificial intelligence.

In the lecture, Dr. Caudevilla introduced the concept of the Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDs). A CBDC is a new form of Central Bank money which is accepted as a means of payment, legal tender, safe store of value by all citizens, businesses and government agencies. CBDCs are based on blockchain and cryptocurrency technologies but have similarities and differences with cryptocurrencies. To some extent, CBDCs aim to take from cryptocurrencies’ the convenience and security and combine those features with the major characteristics of the conventional banking system, in which money circulation is regulated and reserve-backed.

Talking about the development of CBDCs all over the world, Dr. Caudevilla cited a report published by the Bank of International Settlements (BIS) in early 2020, 80% of Central Banks in the world are currently working on CBDCs (some are just at an initial research stage, though), Asia seems to be the place where CBDCs arouse more interest.

Dr. Caudevilla presented this lecture online

Dr. Caudevilla pointed out that China plays a leading role in the digital currency race. The Chinese Government announced the starting of the tests of the country’s central bank digital currency (CBDC), DCEP (Digital Currency Electronic Payment) or Digital Yuan, in four major cities (Shenzhen, Suzhou, Chengdu and Xiong’an) in last April. After four months, Ministry of Commerce announced that a pilot run of the country’s CBDC would begin in several new areas very soon, the Greater Bay Area (GBA) among them, which includes the two Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and Macau. He believed that the mass tests of Digital Yuan is a big opportunities for Shenzhen and Hong Kong even the GBA, could be a great step to enhance Digital Yuan as a payments currency in the global financial system.

During the Q&A session, Dr. Caudevilla interacted with teachers; answered questions raised by the audience.

Q & A Session