By: Kimberly Ramkhalawan
August 12, 2022
The Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago gave provisions to PayWise Limited to operate as a digital currency issuer, with it set to come on stream by September 1.
PayWise is the first company in the Trinidad and Tobago market, outside of banks, and non-financial institutions authorized to issue e-currency locally.
Trinidad and Tobago can be described as a late comer to the game, atleast within the region, as since 2020, The Bahamas launched its Sand Dollar widely used in its archipelago of over 700 islands, while in 2021, the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB), the Central Bank of the OECS, rolled out its pilot, DCash in its four islands, Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada, Saint Christopher (St Kitts) and Nevis and Saint Lucia, all part of its Digital Currency Pilot.
This too has since been expanded to accommodate the St Vincent and the Grenadines, Dominica and Montserrat as of December last year.
In a release, the Central Bank says “under the terms of the provisional registration, PayWise will be allowed to enlist new customers in a controlled environment monitored by the Central Bank”.
According to the CBTT, it defines E-money as “an electronic store of monetary value on a technological device (including mobile phones) that may be widely used for making payments to entities other than the e-money issuer. E-money can be used for payment transactions with or without bank accounts”.
The Central Bank adds that despite being able to only issue money from the said date to come on stream, PayWise will be allowed to enlist new customers in a controlled environment monitored by the Central Bank.
PayWise is a company incorporated in Trinidad and Tobago in 2013, and was registered as a payment service provider since 2019 by the Central Bank.
Currently, Republic Bank has been the only commercial bank to purchase cryptocurrencies, however, the key word being facilitates the purchase, where it is the customer is responsible for the risk and not the bank in anyway at all.
Earlier this year, John Outridge, CEO of the T&T International Financial Centre, at a Commonwealth Fintech Toolkit Workshop, called for more cohesive efforts regarding fintech development within the T&T market, and remarked on the interest of many companies looking to make movement in this particular sector. He shared that the Financial Centre had partnered with the Treasury Division of the Ministry of Finance in facilitating government payments for its services, which he described as a major step for government to receive digital payments.
Experts have projected fintech to add some ten to 12 percent to the GDPs of CARICOM Countries, as it is viewed as a major economic driver, attracting investors utilizing financial and technological infrastructures once present.