The European Central Bank is examining whether to develop a digital currency as an alternative to cash, one of its most prominent board members has said, warning that the region is falling behind the US and Asia in the global payments market.

Beno?t C?uré told a conference in Brussels on Tuesday that “a central bank digital currency could ensure that citizens remain able to use central bank money even if cash is eventually no longer used”.

Mr C?uré, who was recently chosen to head a new unit at the Bank for International Settlements to examine central bank-issued digital currencies, starting in January, added: “A digital currency of this sort could take a variety of forms, the benefits and costs of which the ECB and other central banks are currently investigating, being mindful of their broader consequences on financial intermediation.”