Mastercard CEO Michael Miback said on Tuesday that he does not expect SWIFT, one of the most widely used platforms for cross-border fiat transactions, to exist in five years’ time.
Mibach was speaking at a panel session on central bank digital currencies (CBDC) as part of the Global Blockchain Business Council (GBBC)’s Blockchain Central Davos conference, adjacent to the World Economic Forum 2022 in Davos, Switzerland.
Start of GBBC #blockchaincentral With Davos Session on CBDC @eva_szalay @FT @YuvalRooz @digitalassetcom @jbrookslassitter @Digital_Dollar_ @MiebachMichael @mastercard @BIS_org @dbttreat @accenture pic.twitter.com/C2fvgy0Bij
— Global Blockchain Business Council (GBBC) (@GBBCuncil) 24 May 2022
At the end of the panel discussion, when the moderators asked each of the panelists whether they thought Swift would still exist in five years’ time, Mibach responded by answering “no,” according to a Cointelegraph reporter who attended the session. After that put the audience in shock. ,
The reaction was not expected given his position at Mastercard, and the panelists before him, including John Frost, a senior economist at the Bank of International Settlements and Jennifer Lassiter, executive director of the Digital Dollar Project, an organization called United to explore was assigned the task. State CBDCs had given a positive reply.
Other panelists who followed Meebach also took a positive view, including Yuval Rooz, CEO of Digital Asset, a data technology company, and David Treat, director of Accenture and co-head of the company’s blockchain business.
Cointelegraph contacted Mibach shortly after the panel discussion, but declined to comment further on the subject.
Later, a Mastercard spokesperson downplayed Mibach’s comments in an emailed statement:
“Let’s clarify the intent of the comment on the forum, because it’s not as simple as a yes or no answer. Michael was just reaffirming what Swift said earlier – their operations continue to grow. It’s current form.” The future will never be the same. They are adding more functionality and carrying on the past by being just a messaging system.”
SWIFT processed 42 million messages a day last year, but transactions on the network can take days to complete. The company is striving to maintain its relevance in the international economic system, especially with regard to CBDCs.
To this end, SWIFT has been exploring the use of CBDCs to facilitate seamless cross-border payments since early May 2021, when it released a joint paper with Accenture looking at how digital currencies can facilitate cross-border payments. can help.
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On May 19, 2022, SWIFT announced its second round of experiments involving CBDCs, collaborating with French IT company Capgemini to explore linking domestic CBDCs to facilitate seamless cross-border payments.
we are cooperating @capgemini To find out how Swift can interconnect multiple home-based #CBDC Globally emerging networks for cross-border payments with #digital currency More seamless and frictionless.
Learn more: https://t.co/SgvjDf1dl4 pic.twitter.com/99g99A070H
— Swift (@swiftcommunity) 19 May 2022
Cointelegraph reporters on the ground in Davos noted that in another panel session titled “Rules of the Road for the Digital Economy,” Mibach talked about the role regulation plays in reducing unnecessary noise around nascent technology like crypto.
“Not everyone is screaming for regulation, but it does reduce the noise in the crypto world. By actively engaging with regulators and being principled, I am optimistic,” he said.
