DIGITAL MONEY AND DIGITAL ACCOUNTS IN CENTRAL BANKS
The study considers the procedure, consequences and significance of opening digital accounts and issuing digital cash by the Central Bank of the Russian Federation. The relevance of the study is the novelty of the institution in question, and the proposed settlement system with the opening of digital cash accounts in the Central Bank is designed to stimulate competition and innovation in existing payment systems, including with the participation of commercial banks and other credit institutions. The legal nature and economic content of physical money, financial credit and digital cash in the implementation of the country`s monetary policy are investigated. The author considers the contradictions of the independent position of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation and the Government of Russia in matters of state economic policy. It is noted that competition of non-cash funds of commercial banks and digital finance of the Central Bank will require changes in the activities of commercial banks and the entire banking system. The opening of digital cash accounts raises the level of guarantees and the safety of funds placed on them. A comparative study of the dynamics of cash turnover and turnover of funds on accounts is carried out. The aim of the study is also to consider the positive and negative properties of digital cash in a modern financial system. According to the author, it is necessary to change the ideology of money issue. The study establishes that the transfer of participant functions in settlement relations provides additional opportunities in the provision to the Federal Treasury and use of digital cash to both private individuals and organizations.
Keywords: money issue, digital money accounts, non-cash monetary funds, money supply, credit policy.
Highlights:
the analysis of the mechanism of the emergence of digital cash in the economy will allow the use of new tools of monetary policy. Depending on the scale of replacement of physical cash with their digital form, lower interest rates are possible;
it was noted that digital cash can be used as a tool to increase aggregate demand by conducting subsidizing stimulating interventions for all citizens;
the advantages of introducing digital cash accounts in increasing the security and attractiveness of the financial system are shown. Providing citizens and organizations with the opportunity to make settlements directly in the money of the Central Bank (and not in bank deposits) significantly reduces the concentration of liquidity and credit risk in payment systems. This, in turn, reduces the systemic importance of large banks. In addition, by providing a truly risk-free alternative to bank deposits, the transition from bank deposits to digital cash reduces the need for government deposit guarantees, eliminating the source of risk from the financial system;
it was established that the proposed settlement system with the opening of digital cash accounts in the Central Bank will stimulate competition and innovation in existing payment systems, including with the participation of commercial banks and other credit institutions. On the other hand, the possibility of opening digital accounts for an unlimited number of people at the Central Bank will reduce the dependence of other credit institutions on large banks (which may establish non-competitive or burdensome conditions, including transaction fees).
Sergey P. Bortnikov, Doctor of Law, Associate Professor, Director of the Institute of Law, Samara State University of Economics.