The main problems that the development of electronic money affects macro-control.
First of all, the development of electronic money has impacted the traditional monetary theory system. The traditional monetary theory system equates money with goods or physical assets, and holds that the monetary and financial system is strictly limited by law and managed by the government. In the era of cyber currency, the exchange of electronic money and digital currency with other commodities as pure value bodies is completely spontaneous, unlike the current paper money system, which has to rely on the coercive power of the state.
Second, online currency will change the monetary structure and connotation. Internet currency will partially replace the role of money in circulation, and commercial banks will issue some money, which will weaken the privilege of the central bank to monopolize currency issuance. This substitution will also affect the role of the traditional base currency.
Third, online money will have a significant impact on money supply and demand. The partial substitution of network currency for currency in circulation will directly affect the money supply, especially the narrow money m1; The influence on the direction of money demand is mainly manifested in accelerating the speed of money circulation and reducing the demand for money. The credit creation function of network currency will lead to interest rate fluctuation, and lowering interest rate is the transmission mechanism of monetary policy.
At the micro level, the main problems brought by the development of electronic money.
First, the level of currency division is vague. The rationality and scientificity of the aggregate target in the intermediate target of monetary policy will be reduced, and the intermediate target of price signal represented by interest rate will become the mainstream of future monetary policy.
Second, the confusion of monetary measurement. When the government counts the amount of money in the domestic economy, it must also consider the influence of money held by residents but not deposited in domestic banks.
Third, shake the assumption implied in the traditional theory of money demand that there are definite and stable boundaries between different uses of money.
Fourth, the currency multiplier is rising, and it is more difficult to predict the change of the currency multiplier.
5. Under the condition of market economy, interest rate is not the only factor that affects the speed of money circulation, and the role of monetary policy tools will also be affected.
Sixth, it may reduce the balance of money demand and weaken the role of financial policy in limiting liquidity.
Seven, the transmission mechanism of monetary policy.
Eight, the central bank to formulate monetary policy must be coordinated with relevant countries, and the independence of monetary policy is questioned.
Nine, the security of electronic money, how to guard against various risks needs further study.
Financial innovation makes the trend of financing securitization stronger and stronger. Commercial banks can avoid drawing legal reserves by creating new types of liabilities between demand deposits and time deposits, thus changing the debt structure ratio of financial institutions, and the deposits in the whole banking system will be greatly reduced, resulting in the reduction of actual legal reserves and the weakening of the effectiveness of legal deposit reserves. At the same time, financial innovation has expanded the wider sources of funds for financial institutions, reduced the borrowing cost of funds, improved the convenience of borrowing funds, thus reducing the dependence of financial institutions on rediscount, greatly weakening the importance of the rediscount window of the central bank, and thus greatly reducing the effectiveness of adjusting rediscount interest rates.
The Influence of Electronic Money on the Legal System of Financial Supervision (2)
First, the construction of financial supervision framework.
At present, some countries in Europe and America generally adopt two ways to solve the supervision problem of electronic money system. First of all, a special working group on electronic money should be established in the relevant departments of the central government, such as the central bank or the General Bureau of Monetary Affairs of the Ministry of Finance, to study the impact of electronic money on financial supervision, law, consumer protection, management and security, track the latest development of electronic money system, and put forward macro-policy suggestions and reports on the development of electronic money. Secondly, according to the development of electronic money, the existing regulatory agencies have revised the original rules that are not suitable for the digital and network economy era, and at the same time formulated some new regulatory rules and standards.
The main measures taken are: 1. Restrictions on electronic money issuers: There are two types of restrictions. One is the restriction on the qualification of the subject, such as Germany and Italy, where only credit institutions can issue multi-purpose electronic money; Second, there are restrictions on the issuance behavior. For example, according to Japan's prepaid card law, when the merchant and the card issuer are the same person (2 issuers), they only need to file with the Ministry of Finance, while other issuers (3 issuers) need to file with the Ministry of Finance first. However, some countries (such as the United States) have no restrictions on issuers. 2. Reserve requirements for issuers: Most countries have no additional reserve requirements for issuers of electronic money, and they are basically managed according to the existing rules of the financial industry. Japan requires issuers to pay a reserve equivalent to 50% of the balance of electronic money issued by them. 3. Deposit insurance and other insurance requirements: Canada, Japan, France and Germany. Have incorporated electronic money into their deposit insurance system. Switzerland has also established a loss sharing system. 4. Restrictions on the allowable value of electronic money and the specific transaction amount of consumers. For example, the United States stipulates that electronic money is mainly used for transactions under $20. For the existing supervision of commercial banks engaged in electronic money business, it has become a common practice for the regulatory authorities to expand and modify their existing supervision rules because the existing supervision rules in most countries cannot automatically cover the possible risks in electronic money business. These modifications and extensions mainly include: the filing and reporting system for market access, the type and scale of electronic money issuance, etc. Adjust liquidity management, business scope management and foreign exchange risk management rules; Technical requirements and principles of supervision responsibility; Provisions on the validity of trading contracts, etc.
Generally speaking, the supervision of electronic money is mainly based on the division of the scope of supervision of the original regulatory agencies, and generally no new regulatory agencies are established, but this increases the difficulty of coordination among regulatory agencies, regulatory agencies and other government departments. At present, the regulatory authorities are generally concerned about providing a safe environment for the electronic money system, and the starting point of supervision is to protect the interests of consumers. three
Second, the adjustment of financial supervision function.
The influence of electronic money on the supervision function of the central bank is mainly concentrated in two aspects: one is the supervision of electronic money innovation; The second is the supervision of existing commercial banks engaged in electronic money business. Because countries have different understandings of these two issues, they adopt different regulatory measures. Generally speaking, there are mainly the following measures: First, restrictions on the issuers of electronic money. This restriction can be divided into two categories: one is the restriction on the subject qualification, such as Germany and Italy, where only credit institutions can issue multi-purpose electronic money; The second is the restriction on the issuance behavior. For example, according to Japan's prepaid card law, when the merchant and the issuer are the same person, the issuance of electronic money only needs to be filed in the Ministry of Finance, and other issuers need to register in the Ministry of Finance; Third, the reserve requirements for issuers: Most countries have no additional reserve requirements for issuers of electronic money, and they are basically managed according to the existing rules of the financial industry. Japan requires issuers to pay 50% of the balance of electronic money they issue as a reserve. 4. Insurance requirements such as deposit insurance: Canada, Japan, France, etc. All electronic money has been brought into the deposit insurance system, and Switzerland has also formulated a loss sharing system; Fifth, there are restrictions on the value of electronic money and the specific transaction amount of consumers. For example, the United States stipulates that electronic money is mainly used for transactions below $20. In addition, the management authorities have also made some amendments and extensions to the regulatory rules of financial institutions, mainly including: the filing and reporting system for market access, the types and scale of electronic money issuance, etc. Supervision of common sense management, business scope management and foreign exchange risk management system; Technical requirements and principles of supervision responsibility; New regulations on the validity of trading contracts, etc. five
According to Coase and North's new institutional economics and Buchanan's public choice theory, the government has the comparative advantage of reducing transaction costs in providing public financial order; Under the condition of network and digital economy, the central bank should position its core function as providing legal guarantee and security guarantee for online electronic payment in online e-commerce activities, including formulating legal provisions on financial payment and financial settlement in a series of laws such as e-commerce law, digital signature law, e-contract law and e-money law, and formulating security standards and procedures for online e-commerce and e-capital flow. How to avoid the risk of electronic clearing system, that is, how to avoid the loss of all electronic financial data caused by the collapse of the whole electronic clearing system, and how to make the scientific and technological strength and reputation of electronic money development software manufacturers qualified to implement the safety standards stipulated by law. The good performance of these core functions by the central bank has created a prerequisite for the formation of a normal and orderly online electronic money circulation order.
What the financial supervision authorities need to consider is how to deal with the new challenges brought by technological innovation and other changes in the payment system. To give two examples, first, in some countries, although the anti-money laundering law applies to all institutions, the market would rather choose enterprises as issuers of electronic money than those institutions supervised by banks; Secondly, because the encryption technology used in electronic money products is constantly updated, it is difficult for law enforcement agencies to collect the necessary information to find and punish criminal acts. Nowadays, some countries in the G-10 are mulling how to improve the laws and policies in this field, which is not only conducive to the design and use of electronic money products, but also fully protects consumers' personal privacy. For example, many members of the Group of Ten are considering whether to extend the current anti-money laundering laws (such as transaction reports, consumer identification and record keeping) to some or even all electronic money products. From this point of view, governments must fully consider the impact that consumer factors (such as the requirements for personal privacy protection) may have on suppliers' innovation and operating costs. If every electronic money transaction is required to be recorded or reported, a lot of suspicious business data will be generated in the market or the market value that should be enforced by law will be increased, which will inevitably increase the extra cost of electronic money products and easily lead to unfair market competition compared with other unaffected payment instruments (such as cash); At the same time, the market operators of electronic money will also crack down on financial crimes by keeping a large number of transaction records for anti-fraud and other commercial purposes. However, even if the above situation occurs, we should also consider the privacy of consumers. Similarly, law enforcement agencies should pay full attention to emerging technologies and use them to achieve regulatory goals. In the process of scientific and technological progress, government departments can also realize that it is very important to maintain strong anti-counterfeiting and anti-fraud legal means to ensure the healthy development of payment instruments.
The author thinks that under the conditions of digitalization and networking, the functions of the central bank should be greatly changed, and the focus of financial supervision should be shifted from controlling the initial money supply to identifying the issuance qualification of electronic money, reviewing and supervising the safe payment standards in the process of electronic money circulation, formulating laws and regulations on electronic money circulation, controlling the systematic risks of electronic money and protecting consumers. The central bank should establish and improve the information reporting and filing system, formulate principles and standards for external review and evaluation, and revise corresponding legal norms and rules; Timely study, formulate and implement effective e-money policies, establish a security system and standards for the issuance and trading of e-money, formulate security standards and procedures for online e-money flow, conduct qualification examination for the issuers of e-money and online electronic payment and settlement centers, and conduct qualification examination for the scientific and technological strength and reputation of e-money product developers. The central bank should study and formulate relevant systems and rules to prevent possible systematic and unsystematic risks in the electronic money payment system.
In recent years, with the rapid development of information technology, the "electronic" innovation in the payment field has been continuously promoted. Governments all over the world have taken active measures to promote the healthy development of electronic money and strengthen the construction of information infrastructure. Ordinary financial institutions also try out electronic money for consumers and further commercialize it. Due to the flexibility and convenience of electronic money and its means of payment, it may replace the cash supply and bank deposits monopolized by the central bank at present, and will affect the operation of the central bank's financial policy.
Electronic money and its means of payment are still in the development stage, and it is difficult to predict the future development of electronic money and its means of payment according to the current development situation. However, according to the main characteristics of electronic money and the analysis based on the existing economic theory, it can be predicted that with the continuous development of electronic money and electronic payment means, the existing economic structure and order will inevitably undergo structural changes. Characteristics of electronic money Electronic money refers to electronic products that provide payment services through various electronic devices and the Internet by using ic cards, passwords, communication network information and communication technologies, and is mainly used for small retail payment services. Traditional currency has three basic functions: value scale, circulation (payment) means and value storage. Electronic money is mainly used for payment. Traditional currency is monopolized by the central bank. As a means of electronic payment, electronic money is basically issued by private enterprises and a small amount by financial institutions, and provides electronic payment services. This change in the issuance mechanism challenges the existing monetary theory. When traditional payment uses physical media such as cash to make payment, the two parties to the transaction are limited by the trading place, and electronic payment can be realized only by exchanging electronic information between the payer, the payee and the issuer of electronic money, so that small retail enterprises can reduce the burden of cash management. It can conduct off-site or even cross-border transactions with lower transaction costs.