These include crimes such as trafficking in drugs, women and children, as well as trading of illegal weapons. But there are more subtle forms of economic crime where authorities find it difficult to agree on the risks. In such cases, cooperation in combating such crimes would be more difficult. Examples of such cases are when bigger nations exploit the natural resources of smaller nations, which have been a practice for over 100 years since the days of colonization. Modern fortes of such crimes can be seen in cases where influential businessmen from large countries move into smaller countries under the pretext of technological advancement to exploit the latter's natural resources, which often are claimed for the mutual benefits of both parties. But it is clear that the allocation of such benefits is often not balanced. There is also a case of exploitation of consumers in smaller nations when products which are hazardous to health in bigger nations, have been relocated for production and sale in less developed nations. An example of this is tobaccos and cigarettes, which come under stringent restrictions on sales and advertisement in bigger nations but have been sold in other nations with highly persuasive but subtle advertisement campaigns aimed at teenagers and women. There are also cases of certain medicines which have been banned in more developed markets and yet can still be found on the shelves of other less developed markets. There is no way for the authorities of two nations to agree that such dubious practices constitute economic crimes.
It won't be a "cliff decision": a realisation phase will instead aim at preparing gradually and with experiments for a possible issuance by 2027. In a complementary manner, since 2020, the Banque de France and the BIS Innovation Hub have been conducting experiments on a wholesale CBDC, which attracts less public interest but has strong business cases. Today, I say this to commercial banks: don't be afraid! If a CBDC is needed and decided as a matter of public interest, don't oppose it. But participate actively in setting its designing, its parameters and mode of operation. There is no question of disintermediating existing or future private financial players. Money has for centuries been a positive and innovative partnership between public and private players. Notwithstanding our sometimes unwarranted old fashioned image, we central banks are keen to continue succeeding in our innovator's role with the private sector, not work against it. All economic agents need an anchor that guarantees the trust in the value of money, and central banks are the only ones fully able to preserve it. * ** To conclude, we are about halfway through a fascinating bildungsroman that has already offered many surprises, and will probably offer many more. As a committed reader and even stakeholder in this novel, I strongly hope that the plot overall unravels in the consistent way I described earlier.