The bank was selected in September by the European Central Bank (ECB), as part of a competitive global selection process for payment service providers, banks and other relevant companies, to engage in the creation of prototypes of payment services as part of the investigation phase to prepare for a possible launch of a digital euro. CaixaBank is the only bank selected to participate in this initiative.

With a broad digital capacity that has led it to become an international leader in financial services and innovative payment methods, CaixaBank was entrusted with developing a solution for payments between individuals (P2P).

The proposal presented to the ECB is based on a mobile application in which users would be able to easily view their balance and completed transactions in digital euro. The app would also allow users to send digital euro or request pending payments from other individuals in the eurozone quickly and easily. To simplify the use of the service, its integration into the digital banking applications of other financial institutions has been considered.

The service would also offer additional advantages in terms of privacy. As users of the digital euro prototype, each customer would have a digital identification name that would be sufficient to use the payment service. This would enable customers to send and receive payments without necessarily having to share details, such as their telephone number, email or IBAN. With the aim of simplifying the service’s use, however, an option of sending money to the personal contacts stored by a customer would be provided. In addition, the ECB would not have access to the private information of payments made in digital euros between users.

ECB: prototype summary and lessons learned

The European Central Bank (ECB) conducted a prototyping exercise to test how design choices for the digital euro could be technically implemented and integrated into the existing European payments landscape. The tests showed that it is possible to smoothly integrate them, while leaving ample scope for innovative features and technologies.

The European Central Bank published today the prototype summary on the ECB website with the findings, which also confirmed that a digital euro would work both online and offline, using independent designs. This would also increase the resilience of the digital euro.