The Reserve Bank of New Zealand’s (RBNZ) growing role in shaping the country’s future payment infrastructure has caught the eye of researcher Jodie Bruning, who warns that important constitutional and democratic questions are being overlooked.
Bruning, lead researcher at Physicians and Scientists for Global Responsibility, said the RBNZ has shifted its focus from central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) towards modernising retail payment systems and developing real-time payments.
The distinction is significant because the infrastructure could provide a “rail” for a future CBDC, despite the RBNZ publicly focusing on real-time payments and referring to digital cash rather than CBDCs, she said.
Bruning argued decisions about who controls critical national digital infrastructure are fundamentally political and should be made by Parliament, rather than a central bank.
She was particularly concerned about integrating payment systems with other digital infrastructure, including information and digital identity systems.
Bruning pointed to India’s digital public infrastructure as an example of potential risks from linking digital identity, payments and data-sharing systems. She said international research has raised concerns about privacy, state surveillance, data expropriation and insufficient safeguards.
She also questioned if the RBNZ’s consultation adequately addressed these issues, criticising the bank for not providing Kiwis with alternatives to compare. Bruning said the consultation focused heavily on payment functionality and modernisation without examining constitutional safeguards, institutional separation or the long-term concentration of power.
She has called for a broader legislative framework for digital public infrastructure, with clear limits and protections established by Parliament.
Bruning said the debate should concentrate on efficiency, technical capability, but also who controls the infrastructure and what protections exist for citizens.
Listen or watch RCR’s interview with Jodie Bruning and read her full analysis of New Zealand’s emerging digital public infrastructure at PSGR.
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I’ve long felt we would be better off without the so called Reserve Bank. A haven for academics who majored in econometrics and the like, functionally irrelevant degrees, looking for a sheltered workshop. Out of touch with reality, the impact of their academic antics on society and the economy. This is yet another example.
Thank you Ms Bruning.
Trust you know that you’re doing God’s work.
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand has no reserves and is not of New Zealand. It is a foreign owned/controlled central bank who answer to the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), the central bank of central banks. Along with the foreign owned/controlled NZ Company Church Parliament, they will implement the “India’s digital public infrastructure” model onto us. After all, the NZ Company Church Parliament has opened the floodgates for Indians to flood in, so using their “digital public infrastructure” model makes all the sense in the world. Another FTA quid pro quo.
This is alarming to say the least. Yesterday myself and a friend looked into a newly opened cell phone store where the person, presumably the owner, told us he had no phones for sale until…something…I dunno, we could not understand the Indi-ish ..changeover, takeover, something like that. That store has been open for over a week.
Its inevitable, what needs to happen now is to prepare for the inevitable by way of giving citizens more protections via BORA and the Constitution, this should be pushed to the forefront of election vote getting.
From the government -India trade deal PDF on page 306: Article 8A.14
Cooperation and Exchange of Views on Financial Services including
Financial Technology
The Parties shall strengthen cooperation efforts in the financial services sector
and support the development of Financial Technology (“FinTech”) initiatives,
acknowledging the increasing role of technology in financial services. The
Parties recognise that these efforts support objectives which include the
following:
(j)engage in an in-depth study, design and implementation of central bank
digital currency (CBDC) in both retail and cross-border payments area.