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Catch up on six of the stories our payments compliance analysts have covered lately, and stay up-to-date on the latest news.

Trump Commits To Blocking Digital Dollar Work

Donald Trump has to “never allow” a central bank digital currency (CBDC) if he is successful in his bid to be elected as President of the US again this year. 

During a campaign rally in New Hampshire, the former reality television star said that a digital dollar would be a “dangerous threat”.

“Such a currency would give our federal government absolute control over your money,” he continued. 

Trump was joined on stage by former candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, who later on X (formerly Twitter): “Right answer to CBDC is: hell no.”

He joins fellow candidate Ron DeSantis in coming out against the digital form of cash. 

So far, the US Federal Reserve has no official plans to introduce a CBDC. 

A Bankers’ Oath Is Introduced In Belgium

With the of the bankers’ oath, directors and certain staff members of credit institutions and agents in banking and investment services will be required to take an oath if they are operating in Belgium. 

The new bankers’ oath was published in the Belgian official gazette on January 15 and applies to credit institutions and agents in banking and investment services. 

The banking oath implies that directors and certain bank employees will have to make an individual declaration, by which they undertake to respect, in the exercise of their professional activities, some important ethical rules. 

The rules stipulate that they must act fairly and with integrity, competence and professionalism in all circumstances. With this, client interests must be taken into account and clients must be treated fairly. 

The bankers’ oath must be taken within a period of 12 to 30 months, depending on the person's position, from its publication in the Belgian official gazette, and it is anticipated that bank employees will mainly take the banking oath in 2024 and 2025. 

Singapore Leverages 'Robotic' Technology To Prevent $69m In Losses To Scams

The Anti-Scam Centre (ASC) of the Singapore Police Force (SPF) has that it prevented more than $69m in potential losses to scams in late 2023.

In collaboration with four banks — DBS, UOB, OCBC and Standard Chartered — the ASC leveraged robotic process automation (RPA) technology to identify job, investment and other scam victims.

Between September and December 2023, the SPF and the banks sent out more than 48,000 SMSs to more than 15,000 scam victims who are customers of the banks.

In a statement, the SPF said this resulted in the successful disruption of more than 5,300 ongoing scams.

“RPA technology has enabled the police to automate information sharing, information processing, and the mass distribution of SMS alerts,” it said.

“Many of these victims only realised that they had fallen prey to scams after receiving SMS alerts from the police, advising them to immediately cease further monetary transfers.”

Maltese Regulator Launches DORA Consultation

The Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) has a public consultation on the national implementation of the EU’s Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA), ahead of it becoming fully applicable by January 17, 2025. 

The consultation, which closes on February 16, also covers the transposition of the EU directive that aligns several directives within the financial services sector to the requirements of the DORA Regulation, the DORA Amending Directive. 

“In an effort to raise the level of preparedness around DORA, the Authority has been actively engaging with the local financial services industry through several outreach initiatives in the past year, including a series of podcasts and the publication of circulars,” said Alan Decelis, MFSA’s head of supervisory ICT risk and cybersecurity. 

“This consultation is yet another touchpoint which will facilitate the sharing of feedback by all entities concerned, ensuring the successful implementation of the DORA Regulation on a national level.”

Google Signs MoU To Promote Global Expansion Of India's UPI

Google India has a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the international arm of the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) to expand access to UPI overseas.

In a statement, the NPCI said the MoU has three key objectives. First, it seeks to broaden the use of UPI payments for Indians when travelling abroad.

Second, the MoU intends to assist in establishing UPI-like digital payment systems in other countries.

Lastly, it seeks to improve the process of remittances between countries by using the UPI infrastructure.

“The outlined objectives will help accelerate UPI's global acceptance, providing foreign merchants access to Indian customers who will no longer have to rely only on foreign currency and/or credit or forex cards,” said the NPCI.

“They will have the option of using UPI-powered apps from India, including Google Pay.”

Iberpay Reports Strong Instant Payments Growth For Spain

Iberpay, operator of Spain’s Sistema Nacional de Compensación Electrónica (SNCE), has reported in the volume and value of instant payments transacted on the network.

In 2023, 1,011m instant transfers were processed in Spain, which is 22.8 percent more than in 2022. Overall, this came to a total of €119.4bn, 21.6 percent more than in 2022. 

Iberpay has also revealed that the migration rate from standard credit transfers to instant transfers was 54 percent, compared with an average of 15 percent across the rest of the EU. 

In total in 2023, the SNCE hit a record of more than 3bn payments, which is 7.8 percent more than in 2022. With a value of nearly €2.7trn, this was 7.2 percent more than in 2022.

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