IIF Authors

Status: Will be live at 02/28/2023 12:15

FRT Episode 131: Interbank Reconciliation and the Digital Euro

In this episode of FRT, Silvia Attanasio, Head of Innovation at the Italian Banking Association (ABI) and President of ABI Lab, discusses interbank reconciliation using distributed ledger technology (DLT) and work the Italian banks have undertaken in support of research into a Digital Euro. Silvia is a member of the ECB Digital Euro Market Advisory Group.

Silvia discusses the Spunta project, uses cases that could shape the design of a future Digital Euro, and the incorporation of jurisdictions’ public interest in the creation of digital currency. She wisely distinguishes programmable money from programmable payments, and she digs into design details that are sometimes misunderstood.

According to ABI Lab, “the Spunta Banca DLT application allows banks to quickly identify any misalignments in interbank transactions, by sharing common data in a secure manner. It also allows them to perform checks and exchanges directly within the application and to use standardised processes and communications to correct potential problems. Smart contract technology for settlement also provides banks with automatic feedback on their transactions. The results include a lower operating risk and faster and more transparent processes, all provided through a highly user-friendly interface. Following the completion of technical performance tests which simulated 200 million transactions (representing an entire year’s data), the Spunta DLT application has been in production since 1 October 2020 with 97 banks that have signed up to the project.”