Kombe Kaponda
BCM Manager (Financial Markets Infrastructure Specialist)
Bank of Zambia
Biography
Kombe Kaponda is the current chairperson for the Central Bank of Zambia (BOZ) FinTech Working Group, leading research on the effects of financial technologies and feasibility of CBDC. He is a certified Digital Finance Practitioner (CDFP), and a very active contributor to the global fintech and digital innovations agenda, participating in the IMF-World Bank technology Community of Practice (CoP), a CBDC technology CoP in the Digital Advisory Unit focusing on R&D and research about CBDC technology for mutual global learning. He is also currently participating in the ITU (International Telecommunication Union) Architecture Interoperability committee, Taxonomy & CBDC, Digital Currency Ecosystem Global Initiative Working group. Kombe is a published author and has facilitated workshops and seminars.
About the company
Bank of Zambia is the central bank of Zambia.
Presentation
Developing countries around the world, in Africa and Zambia in particular, have seen a rapid rise in the use of crypto asset platforms. Following the announcement and the launch of a white paper in June 2019, by social media giant Facebook on the launch of a single global currency called Libra which was later renamed to Diem (Libra, 2019). The regulators around the world including Zambia, have been awakened and accelerated their works on the possible uses of Central Bank issued digital currency (CBDC) to mitigate the risks posed by virtual currencies. Using time series high frequency data, Bank of Zambia is currently doing research of the feasibility of CBDC ability to make payment systems more efficient, to make stronger nation defence against AML/CFT, to ensure non-discriminatory access to domestic financial services (Financial Inclusion) and to mitigate the high cost of currency processing