Central Bank Digital Currencies Training Course

Duration 10 days 16 modules · 65 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Central bank policy professionals, Payment system managers and others
Fee from USD 2,200 KSh 190,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 16 Nov 2026 Course code SD-FT-037

Before you join: Participants should understand core banking, payment systems, financial regulation or public financial policy through professional experience or prior study.

Dates & prices

Two start dates a month in every city, and live online on weekdays or weekends. Fees are per participant; classroom fees include tuition, materials, lunch and refreshments, and the certificate.

Suggest a date or city

Showing the next six months. Later dates, other cities and private deliveries for your team are available on request.

Course overview

Central bank digital currencies raise decisions that reach far beyond issuing a new payment instrument. Central banks, finance ministries, commercial banks and payment operators must assess monetary policy transmission, financial stability, legal authority, privacy, cyber risk, settlement design and public adoption. A poorly specified CBDC can create bank-disintermediation pressures, operational concentration, weak user protections or payment-system fragmentation. A well-governed design can improve payment resilience, support financial inclusion and provide a public digital means of payment.

This course examines retail and wholesale CBDC models, account-based and token-based architectures, direct, indirect and hybrid operating models, and the roles of central banks, intermediaries and technology providers. Participants assess CBDC policy objectives using structured design criteria, map risks through the CBDC lifecycle, compare core technology choices and define controls for identity, privacy, cyber security, offline payments and interoperability. The course also addresses legal design, financial-crime controls, monetary policy implications, cross-border payments and implementation governance.

Teaching combines focused instructor briefings, central-bank case material, design reviews, group analysis and scenario-based decision making. Participants progressively develop a CBDC concept package for a selected jurisdiction or institution, using reusable assessment tools and governance templates. They leave with a documented design rationale, risk register, stakeholder map, operating-model outline and phased implementation plan suitable for internal discussion.

The course suits professionals contributing to CBDC policy, payment-system modernisation, digital finance regulation, bank strategy, technology architecture, risk management or public-sector transformation.

What you will be able to do

  • Assess CBDC policy objectives using a structured public-policy scorecard
  • Compare retail and wholesale CBDC design models against defined criteria
  • Develop a CBDC operating model covering central bank and intermediary responsibilities
  • Apply CPMI-IOSCO PFMI principles to CBDC settlement and risk arrangements
  • Design privacy, identity and financial-crime control requirements for CBDC services
  • Evaluate technology architecture choices, cyber controls and offline-payment options
  • Produce a phased CBDC implementation roadmap with governance and decision gates
  • Present a complete CBDC concept package supported by risk and stakeholder analysis

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Ability to distinguish viable CBDC design choices from technology-led proposals
  • Practical language for briefing executives on CBDC risks and trade-offs
  • Reusable methods for assessing payment, privacy and financial-stability implications
  • Confidence to challenge architecture and operating-model assumptions constructively
  • A documented CBDC concept package for professional portfolio use

For your organisation

  • More disciplined CBDC feasibility assessments before committing policy or technology resources
  • Clearer allocation of responsibilities among central banks, intermediaries and providers
  • Earlier identification of legal, cyber, liquidity and operational risk exposures
  • Stronger preparation for CBDC consultations, pilots and payment-modernisation programmes
  • Consistent governance artefacts for senior decision makers and programme sponsors

Course modules

16 modules over 10 days

Participants can define a CBDC problem statement and assess whether issuance addresses stated policy objectives.

  • Money functions, central bank liabilities and the monetary system hierarchy
  • Retail CBDC, wholesale CBDC and tokenised settlement asset distinctions
  • Public policy objectives translated into measurable CBDC design criteria
  • Problem statements separating payment failures from technology solution preferences
  • BIS CBDC taxonomy applied to domestic payment-system use cases
  • Issuance alternatives including fast payments, stablecoins and bank deposit tokens

Participants can compare CBDC models and assign responsibilities across the proposed ecosystem.

  • Direct, indirect and hybrid CBDC models compared systematically
  • Two-tier distribution structures and responsibilities of supervised intermediaries
  • Account-based and token-based claims, access and validation arrangements
  • Central bank balance-sheet implications under each distribution model
  • Public-private role allocation using responsibility assignment matrices
  • Decision criteria for selecting retail, wholesale or dual-purpose designs

Participants can specify inclusive retail CBDC user journeys and access channels.

  • Personas for consumers, merchants, small businesses and vulnerable users
  • Customer journey mapping from onboarding through payment dispute resolution
  • Wallet access through banks, payment institutions and public channels
  • Tiered service design for inclusion, limits and simplified due diligence
  • Merchant acceptance requirements, pricing incentives and point-of-sale integration
  • Accessibility standards for low-connectivity, disability and language requirements

Participants can assess wholesale CBDC uses in settlement and financial-market infrastructure.

  • Wholesale CBDC use cases for interbank and securities settlement
  • Delivery-versus-payment and payment-versus-payment settlement mechanisms
  • Central bank reserves compared with tokenised wholesale settlement assets
  • Intraday liquidity management under programmable settlement conditions
  • RTGS integration, queue management and settlement finality requirements
  • Financial-market infrastructure participants, access rules and collateral arrangements

Participants can evaluate CBDC effects on deposits, bank funding and monetary policy transmission.

  • Deposit substitution channels and commercial bank funding pressures
  • CBDC remuneration structures, holding limits and conversion caps
  • Monetary policy transmission through interest-bearing digital central bank money
  • Stress scenarios for rapid conversion from deposits into CBDC
  • Liquidity facilities and safeguards against bank-disintermediation shocks
  • Financial stability indicators tracked during pilots and scaled deployment

Participants can identify legal questions and draft a regulatory workplan for CBDC issuance.

  • Central bank mandates, legal tender status and issuance authority
  • Claims structure, redemption rights and insolvency treatment of balances
  • Consumer protection rules for errors, fraud and unauthorised transactions
  • Licensing boundaries for wallet providers, payment institutions and agents
  • Data protection obligations, lawful processing bases and retention schedules
  • Legislative gap analysis structured around powers, rights and obligations

Participants can define proportionate identity, privacy and financial-crime controls for CBDC services.

  • Know-your-customer tiers aligned with risk-based AML/CFT controls
  • Privacy-by-design requirements for transaction data and personal identifiers
  • Pseudonymisation, tokenisation and encryption applied to CBDC data flows
  • Travel Rule implications for transfers involving regulated service providers
  • Sanctions screening, transaction monitoring and suspicious activity reporting
  • Access-control matrices separating central bank, intermediary and vendor permissions

Participants can select architecture principles appropriate to stated CBDC functional requirements.

  • Centralised databases, distributed ledgers and hybrid architecture trade-offs
  • Permissioned network governance, validator roles and transaction ordering
  • Account ledgers, token registries and double-spend prevention methods
  • Application programming interfaces for wallets, intermediaries and payment rails
  • Performance requirements covering throughput, latency, availability and scalability
  • Architecture decision records linking technical choices to policy objectives

Participants can develop cyber and resilience requirements for CBDC infrastructure and providers.

  • NIST Cybersecurity Framework functions applied to CBDC service components
  • Threat modelling using attack surfaces, actors and control objectives
  • Key management, hardware security modules and cryptographic lifecycle controls
  • Operational resilience requirements for outages, cyber incidents and recovery
  • Third-party risk assessment for cloud, wallet and identity providers
  • Red-team testing, penetration testing and incident response playbooks

Participants can define offline payment requirements, limits and device-security controls.

  • Offline payment scenarios during network outages and disaster conditions
  • Secure elements, trusted execution environments and hardware wallet options
  • Value limits, transaction counters and risk-based offline controls
  • Double-spend detection, reconciliation and delayed settlement procedures
  • Device loss, wallet recovery and credential replacement processes
  • Offline acceptance policies for merchants and remote communities

Participants can assess interoperability routes and cross-border CBDC design constraints.

  • ISO 20022 message structures for payment and settlement interoperability
  • Domestic interoperability with instant payments, cards and bank transfers
  • Cross-border payment models: compatible systems, interlinking and common platforms
  • Foreign exchange conversion, correspondent arrangements and settlement risk
  • Jurisdictional data localisation and cross-border information-sharing constraints
  • CPMI cross-border payment targets used for design performance measures

Participants can apply PFMI-based controls to CBDC payment and settlement arrangements.

  • CPMI-IOSCO PFMI principles relevant to CBDC system operators
  • Legal basis, governance and risk-management framework assessment
  • Credit risk, liquidity risk and settlement risk control mapping
  • Operational risk measures for critical services and business continuity
  • Participant default procedures, loss allocation and recovery planning
  • Disclosure frameworks for access rules, fees and service levels

Participants can build a reasoned CBDC business case with costs, benefits and assumptions.

  • Cost drivers for core platform, wallets, operations and supervision
  • Benefit mapping for resilience, inclusion, competition and payment efficiency
  • Total cost of ownership estimates using lifecycle cost categories
  • Scenario analysis for adoption, transaction volumes and operating expenditure
  • Intermediary incentives, fee models and sustainable service economics
  • Benefits-realisation measures linked to policy objectives and baseline data

Participants can establish CBDC programme governance, procurement controls and supplier oversight.

  • Programme governance structures linking policy, technology and operational decisions
  • Stage-gate approval criteria for research, pilot and production phases
  • Procurement requirements for platform providers and specialist service partners
  • Vendor due diligence covering financial viability, security and exit arrangements
  • Service-level agreements, audit rights and performance reporting requirements
  • Data ownership, intellectual property and source-code escrow provisions

Participants can plan a CBDC pilot with measurable tests, safeguards and communications.

  • Pilot hypotheses framed around adoption, usability, resilience and control performance
  • Participant selection criteria for consumers, merchants and financial intermediaries
  • Test scenarios covering normal operations, outages, fraud and dispute handling
  • Metrics dashboards for transactions, failures, service quality and user behaviour
  • Public communication plans addressing privacy, access and monetary concerns
  • Exit criteria, pilot evaluation reports and scale-up decision gates

Participants can build, review and present a complete CBDC concept package with defensible recommendations.

  • CBDC policy problem, target users and measurable objectives consolidated
  • Selected operating model, architecture principles and control requirements documented
  • Risk register covering legal, financial, operational and cyber exposures
  • Stakeholder map assigning accountability, consultation and decision rights
  • Phased roadmap with pilots, dependencies, costs and governance gates
  • Executive presentation defending design trade-offs and implementation recommendations

Exercises and examples are adapted to each cohort's sectors and roles.

What you take back to work

  1. CBDC policy objective scorecard
  2. CBDC operating-model template
  3. PFMI-aligned risk register
  4. Privacy and identity control matrix
  5. CBDC architecture decision record
  6. Phased implementation roadmap

Who should attend

  • Central bank policy professionals — assess CBDC objectives, choices and institutional consequences
  • Payment system managers — define settlement, access and operational arrangements
  • Commercial bank strategists — evaluate deposit, liquidity and customer-service implications
  • Financial regulators — set proportionate rules for CBDC participants and service providers
  • Technology and security leaders — assess architecture, resilience and control requirements
  • Finance ministry officials — connect CBDC proposals with public policy and legal authority

Skills and tools covered

CBDC design assessmentPayment system governanceDigital currency riskPrivacy control designInteroperability planningImplementation roadmapping

Tools and standards

CPMI-IOSCO Principles for Financial Market Infrastructures, ISO 20022, NIST Cybersecurity Framework, BIS CBDC taxonomy

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short technical briefings followed by case work drawn from retail payments, wholesale settlement and cross-border payment initiatives. Participants work in groups to compare design options, test policy trade-offs, review control scenarios and simulate governance decisions. Each module adds material to a CBDC concept package, allowing participants to apply methods as they are introduced. Facilitated peer review develops the ability to explain recommendations to policy, operational, risk and technology stakeholders.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should understand core banking, payment systems, financial regulation or public financial policy through professional experience or prior study. Familiarity with central-bank functions, commercial-bank deposits, settlement processes and digital payments is useful. Participants should be comfortable reading policy papers, discussing operational risks and working with structured decision criteria. No programming, cryptography, distributed-ledger development or advanced economics qualification is required. The course explains technical concepts sufficiently for policy, risk, operations and business professionals who do not work in technology roles.

A typical training day

08:30 – 10:30First session
10:30 – 10:45Refreshment break
10:45 – 12:30Second session
12:30 – 13:30Lunch and networking
13:30 – 15:00Third session
15:00 – 15:15Refreshment break
15:15 – 16:30Workshop and daily review

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in East Africa Time, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

  • Instruction by a practitioner facilitator
  • Full course workbook and materials
  • Exercise files, templates and case studies
  • Refreshments and lunch on classroom deliveries
  • Certificate of completion
  • Post-course application plan

Frequently asked questions

You should understand basic banking, payments, financial regulation or public financial policy. You do not need programming skills, cryptography expertise or prior experience building distributed-ledger systems.

Bring a laptop for reviewing templates, analysing cases and preparing your CBDC concept package. If possible, bring a current payment-modernisation issue, policy question or institutional proposal relevant to your role.

It is designed for central bank, finance ministry, regulator, bank, payment-system and technology professionals involved in digital money or payment transformation. It is particularly useful for people who must connect policy decisions with operational and technical consequences.

The course focuses on public money, central-bank mandates, payment-system design, regulatory controls and implementation governance. Blockchain architecture is addressed where relevant, but CBDCs are not treated as a cryptocurrency product or trading subject.

Participants use the scorecards, risk register, operating-model template and roadmap to assess an existing CBDC proposal or prepare an internal briefing. The materials support feasibility studies, consultation responses, pilot planning and programme governance.

The first part establishes policy, design, legal and operating foundations while participants begin their concept package. The later sessions examine technology, controls, interoperability, economics, pilots and governance, ending with a capstone review and presentation.

Questions about this course?

Ask about dates, fees, group bookings or running it for your team. Our training team replies by email.

Ask on WhatsApp info@skillsetdevelopment.com

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