With the current liberalisation of financial markets and the tendency for an integration of financial services in gigantic multi-functional and multi-national financial conglomerates, the task to protect the value of the currency, that is, to keep inflation low, has become more difficult.
The debate in the world of central banking about the introduction of e-money at this stage is therefore not only about the effects it might have on the use of, and the demand for, bank notes and coin, but also how it will change the role of monetary policy.