NASSAU| An executive of a growing corporate services company said that more educational awareness in regard to digital payment options is needed for family island residents if traditional commercial banks are leaving.
Peter Cartwright, managing director of PDC Corporate Services Limited, told Guardian Business that the lack of commercial banks on Family Islands is a “major concern” and can lead to businesses having to leave cash on their premises, which can lead to theft or fraud.
“What Fidelity did on Exuma, what I thought was thinking outside of the box, it did a deal with a payment services provider, where they’re able to focus their efforts on more high-yielding solutions such as credit, mortgages and merchant services. So you won’t see in many cases where they’re handling cash, but they’re using a third party entity that can handle, move and bank their cash.”
Cartwright said despite the financial services landscape changing on the Family Islands, and the increasing use of the country’s digital currency, the Sand Dollar, there needs to be an appreciation that there are a lot of senior citizens who have retired to the Family Islands, and “They don’t have the capability of maneuvering the phone and this digital era,” he said.
Cartwright added: “I think the approach for expanding digital banking on the Family Islands needs to shift. There needs to be more educational awareness on alternative banking solutions, because you don’t have to go to a bank every time to do a transaction. You can log on to your phone to use an app, but there are communities where they’re used to doing things a particular way, and don’t want to step into a new era which creates challenges.”
Cartwright continued: “How do you treat the construction workers who have been working five or six days on the cays, who come down to the mainland to do some banking, only to find out that the automated teller machines are down because there is a power-related issue? I just want to bring the awareness that these Family Islands need attention. They require attention just as New Providence does, where we have the convenience of choosing and refusing which banking institution we want to do business with.”
The expansion of credit unions to the Family Islands may be a solution, and Cartwright believes they are receptive to the idea.
“There were talks with one of the credit unions to set up a town hall meeting to gauge the reception from the residents, to see if it was a viable option.
