ECB’s Villeroy: Integrated European Platform Could Make Euro More Attractive

3 October 2023

By Isabel Teles – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member François Villeroy de Galhau on Tuesday expressed support for an integrated European platform to facilitate cross-border payments using central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).

In a speech at a CBDC conference of the Banque de France, which he leads, Villeroy said that ‘[t]ogether with a wholesale and/or retail CBDC, this [integrated European platform] infrastructure could make the euro more attractive in trade finance activities or in the foreign exchange market.’ 

‘To date, tokenised finance has indeed lacked the anchor provided by central bank money, which reduces counterparty and liquidity risks, and crucially ensures the finality of payments’, he said, adding that the tokenised central bank money would work as a monetary anchor and provide a 'safety pivot'.

‘Controlling central bank money is not a final goal per se, but it is essential for ensuring the anchoring value of central bank money and hence financial stability’, he said.