Central bank business models are being forced to change as the economy digitalises, Joachim Nagel, Deutsche Bundesbank governor, said on May 6.

“If you would have asked me 20 years ago, is the central bank model destroyable?” Nagel told the Bank for International Settlements’ (BIS) Innovation Summit in Basel, “I would have said no.” But, now: “I’m not so sure anymore.”

Nagel was sitting on a panel on wholesale and retail central bank digital currency (CBDC) alongside Bank of Italy governor Fabio