Scale of the Universal Access Needs Around Central Bank Digital Currency

Online banking and cashless payment options are seemingly everywhere but remain difficult or inaccessible to many Canadians. Much is already known for how to make these systems work better for a broader range of citizens, but this know-how is spread across many documents and reports, limiting its ability to guide the design of new systems. This research bringing together statistics and findings from the state of the art. It will provide a detailed summary of the accessibility needs of different groups of users, including among others, people with disabilities and those with limited access to computing systems. These findings will provide breakdowns on the number of Canadians with different types of accessibility concerns, as well as detailed descriptions of what those needs are. This will help inform designers of digital banking tools, both at the Bank of Canada and elsewhere, of universal access priorities for digital banking.

Faculty Supervisor:

Karyn Moffatt

Student:

Partner:

Bank of Canada

Discipline:

Computer science

Sector:

Finance and Insurance; Manufacturing; Public administration

University:

McGill University

Program: