2023-10-13 21:00:49
The European Central Bank (ECB) wants to give citizens the opportunity to make payments digitally in the future and to do so by introducing a digital central bank account managed by banks, the digital euro. This means that citizens would have “real” money in their electronic wallet and not just bank money in their account as a claim against their bank, which – unlike the ECB – could become insolvent.
Andreas Mihm
Economic correspondent for Austria, East Central and Southeast Europe and Turkey based in Vienna.
In cash-loving Austria, where the government is even considering giving cash withdrawals constitutional status, the ECB’s strategy of monetary digitalization is being pursued in a “positive and critical” manner. At least that’s what the chairman of the banking division, Willi Cernko, the CEO of the country’s largest bank, Erste Group, says when presenting a new report on the benefits, costs and risks of the digital euro.
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