While we're all praising the merits of technological innovation in the payments industry, especially in China, did any of use spare a thought for how this might affect how the central bank manages monetary policy?

In what is a very interesting piece of research, Bank of America Merrill Lynch economists Xiaojia Zhi and Helen Qiao argue that the huge surge in electronic payments actually make money growth far less predictable, making it far harder for the People's Bank of China to guide market interest rates – leading to great rates risk to the country’s depositors.