2024-06-20 Payments BB Meeting notes

Phase 1 Completion

@David Higgins

• David Higgins provided an update on the completion of Phase 1, which focused on developing a candidate solution for government-to-person (G2P) and person-to-government (P2G) payments.

• The solution enhanced an existing digital public good, Payment Hub, to meet GovStack specifications.

• Training sessions and documentation are available on GovStack Confluence.

Phase 2 Topics

@Oscar Correia @Mauree, Venkatesen

@David Higgins

@James Dailey

Multicurrency support and cross-border payments

• @Oscar Correia led the discussion, highlighting the need for multi-currency support in countries with multiple currencies in use.

• Two approaches were discussed: separate currency accounts for each currency and a base currency approach with conversions.

• Challenges related to conversion rates, rounding, and reconciliation were noted.

• David Higgins confirmed that the existing solution supports multiple currency accounts but not currency conversion.

• Further discussion is needed on the integration of multi-currency support within the existing specifications.

• The discussion on multi-currency payments highlighted the need to consider both in-country and cross-border scenarios

• The group will need to determine the role of the payments building block in currency conversion, especially in cross-border transactions.

Use cases for business-to-government (B2G) and government-to-government (G2G) payments

• Common use cases for B2G payments include applications for business permits and tax submissions.

Government procurement will not be included in this building block as it is handled by another building block on the marketplace.

Use of blockchain in payments

Ensuring the payments building block fits into the Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI)

@James encouraged members to review the BIS paper “https://www.bis.org/publ/work1178.pdf“ on the future of digital finance as a consideration for the payments BB.