The Federal Reserve Depository financial institution of New York has announced it will be partnering with the Bank for International Settlements Innovation Hub every bit part of the launch of its New York Innovation Center, an initiative aimed at exploring technology used to develop the global financial system.

In a Mon speech for the opening of the New York Innovation Center, Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell said the partnership would support the agency'due south analysis of digital currencies, including the rollout of a fundamental bank digital currency, or CBDC. The center plans to support analyses aimed at improving cross-border payment systems.

"The stride of technological modify and innovation over the last decade has led some to fence that we are on the brink of a fourth industrial revolution — a digital revolution," said Powell. "Certainly, rapid innovation, including through the application of advanced digital technologies, car learning, artificial intelligence, and big data, is revolutionizing the fiscal sector."

Per von Zelowitz, quondam PwC director of cyberbanking transformation, will exist leading the innovation center. With locations in Hong Kong, Singapore, Toronto, London, Stockholm and more, BIS Innovation Hubs have supported some research projects aimed at integrating CBDCs into dissimilar countries' payment systems equally well every bit other infrastructure used by fundamental banks. A BIS survey from January showed that 86% of major central banks were actively exploring the introduction of CBDCs.

Related: Fed still undecided about digital dollar, says Chair Jerome Powell

Powell's comments came as he awaits a hearing from the Senate Cyberbanking Committee to consider his nomination for a second term as Fed chair. He said in September that the Fed was "working proactively to event a CBDC" but was unlikely to support a coating ban on cryptocurrencies.