Inside Asian Gaming

IAG APR 2021年4月 亞博匯 45 專欄 facilitate the availability of money for Chinese visitors to Macau and eliminate the need for currency exchanges and related costs. Ultimately, this could boost overall consumer spending in the mass and premium mass markets, which are the precise segments that have been most affected by the drop in footfall and visitations since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Froma policy perspective, the Chinese Government has signaled its intention for the Digital RMB to be internationally accepted overseas as part of its internationalization strategy for the Chinese RMB. This also forms part of the RMB’s drive towards being a leading reserve and global trade settlement currency. To this end, in February the PBOC registered a new joint venture with SWIFT, the global interbank settlement organization, which could signal the way for integration of the Digital RMB into global banking systems for overseas remittances and transfers. The PBOC is also reported to have joined a cross- border payments pilot project led by the Bank of International Settlement that will create a process for real-time cross-border foreign currency exchange payments on blockchain technology. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority and Bank of Thailand are already participating in the project, as well as the Central Bank of the UAE. As the Bernstein report highlighted, a key aspect of internationalization would be the free flow of currency and reduction or elimination of capital controls. Given the inherent traceability of Digital RMB transactions through the centralized ledger, the PBOC’s complete oversight of RMB cash flows may encourage an easing of the formal cross-border capital controls in future. One collateral effect of expediting cross-border transfers would be a significant reduction in demand for intermediaries’ services, such as junkets. The 用戶的數字人民幣電子錢包將直接綁定用戶的銀行帳戶，從 中將帳戶的金錢轉換成數字人民幣，並轉移至其數字人民幣電子 錢包中。該電子錢包的支付功能包括通過掃描QR碼/條碼進行零 售支付，以及點對點（P2P）匯款。 該電子錢包採用近距離無線通訊（NFC）技術，因此並不需要 有效的互聯網訊號來進行交易。 為跨境支付和消費開闢新路 對像澳門這種傳統上有大量中國遊客的市場，新的數字人民 幣意味著甚麼呢？據投行Sanford C Bernstein於1月發佈的最新 研究報告顯示，若數字人民幣像澳門元和港元一樣，獲澳門接納 為交易貨幣，並與當前獲接受的實體人民幣的匯率保持一致，這 將為訪澳的中國遊客提供更多資金，遊客亦無須兌換貨幣和支付 相關費用。最終，這能夠增加中場和高端中場的總體消費支出，相 關領域是新冠肺炎疫情開始以來最受人流和訪問量下降影響的 市場。 從政策角度來看，中國政府已表示有意將數字人民幣推廣至 獲海外市場接納，作為其人民幣國際化戰略舉措之一，也是促成 人民幣成為全球領先的儲備和貿易結算貨幣的舉措之一。 為此，人行2月與環球銀行金融電信協會（SWIFT）成立了一 家新的合資企業，這或標誌著數字人民幣獲整合至全球銀行系 統，用作海外匯款和轉賬。據報道，人行還參與了由國際清算銀行 牽頭的跨境支付試點項目，創建一個基於區塊鏈技術的實時跨境 外幣兌換支付流程。香港金融管理局和泰國銀行以及阿聯酋中央 銀行亦參與該項目。 如Bernstein的報告所強調一樣，國際化進程的其中一個重 點是，貨幣自由流通以及減少或消除資本管制。通過集中式管理 的分類賬，數字人民幣交易是具備追溯性，人行可對人民幣流量 進行全面監管，未來或可正式放鬆對跨境資本的管制。 加快跨境轉賬的附帶影響是，大大減少了對中介機構如博彩 中介人的需求。Bernstein的報告預測博彩中介市場將因此受影 響。