CaribPR Wire

With Finastra Essence, the bank is well-positioned to deliver an enhanced customer experience, stay ahead of the competition, and address regulatory changes

LAKE MARY, Fla., April 22, 2024 /PRNewswire/ – Finastra, a global provider of financial software applications and marketplaces, announces that British Caribbean Bank Limited (BCB), a Turks and Caicos-based financial institution offering international bank accounts and customized loan options, has selected Finastra Essence, deployed on Microsoft Azure cloud, to modernize its core and transform its back-office operations. The move enables increased readiness for regulatory changes and positions the bank for continued growth.

BCB’s selection of Essence provides the bank with the modern capabilities, open APIs, and cloud functionality needed to better compete in the market and simplify payment regulatory changes in Turks and Caicos. The core solution’s agile, cloud-based technology, combined with Finastra’s broad and deep banking functionality, makes it simple and streamlined for BCB to adapt quickly and efficiently, while also enabling increased connectivity to third-party partners for an enhanced customer experience.

“To transform our core and enhance our operations, we needed an innovative partner to provide the expertise and tech stack required to complete our modernization journey,” said Marcus Samuel, Managing Director at British Caribbean Bank Limited. “Finastra Essence helps us go above and beyond by positioning our team to deliver both an enhanced customer experience and innovative products, all while being agile and quick to market as we grow.”

The move delivers new efficiencies for BCB. By modernizing its core, the bank can now benefit from a simplified back-office, reducing costs and increasing productivity for its team.

Essence, a cloud-first, next-generation banking solution that combines sophisticated functionality and advanced technology to increase enterprise agility, is seeing increased presence in the Caribbean. Its deep retail and commercial banking functionality enable financial institutions around the world to quickly adapt to local needs while rapidly deploying market-leading products and services.

“Finastra is pleased to see Essence growing in the Caribbean and across the Americas, as more financial institutions are seeking core solutions that support digital transformation through increased agility, the cloud, and connectivity to the financial ecosystem,” said Siobhan Byron, EVP, Universal Banking at Finastra. “Our continued and enhanced partnership with BCB and its affiliates provides the bank with the resources and support it needs to grow, thrive, and adapt to an ever-evolving financial services landscape.”

About Finastra
Finastra is a global provider of financial software applications and marketplaces, and launched the leading open platform for innovation, FusionFabric.cloud, in 2017. It serves institutions of all sizes, providing award-winning software solutions and services across Lending, Payments, Treasury & Capital Markets and Universal Banking (Retail, Digital and Commercial Banking) for banks to support direct banking relationships and grow through indirect channels, such as embedded finance and Banking as a Service. Its pioneering approach and commitment to open finance and collaboration is why it is trusted by over 8,000 institutions, including 45 of the world’s top 50 banks. For more information, visit finastra.com

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BEIJING, Nov. 9, 2022 /PRNewswire-HISPANIC PR WIRE/ — On November 9, China-Central and North America and Caribbean International Trade Digital Expo, hosted by the CCPIT-China Council for the Promotion of International Trade and jointly hosted by China Chamber of International Commerce, (CCOIC), and ZhongZhan Information Cooperation Data Service Company, opened online on the “CCPIT cloud exhibition platform.”

This exhibition takes Chinese enterprises as the main body, takes the needs of buyers in Central and North America and Caribbean region as the core, and uses the digital exhibition platform to provide enterprises with online negotiation opportunities and accurate matching services. It is expected that more than 10,000 buyers will visit and connect online. The exhibits cover Textile, Clothing and Xinjiang cotton products, Medical devices, Building materials and Hardware, Gifts and office supplies, Home appliances and Furniture, Consumer electronics and other fields. The exhibition also set up 14 exhibition areas, among which the “Chinese Brand” exhibition area highlights Chinese brand enterprises, products and services, and establishes a good image of Chinese Brands; In the “Service Trade” exhibition area, service trade enterprises are preferred, and efforts are made to promote “Chinese services” to go global and deeply integrate into the global industrial chain, value chain and logistics chain.

At present, the digital mode combining online and offline is becoming the new normal of the exhibition industry. The China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) actively plans to continue to help Chinese enterprises “maintain orders” and “stabilize foreign trade” by relying on the accumulated experience in organizing digital exhibitions, and make full use of the platform advantages of the “CCPIT cloud Exhibition” to display China’s development achievements, the economic and trade cooperation between China and Central and North America and Caribbean region, while introducing the business environment in Central and North America and Caribbean, interpreting the relevant free trade agreements and the global economic and trade friction index and other important information. During the exhibition, six industry matchmaking meetings will be held, with the theme of textile clothing and Xinjiang cotton products, auto parts, hardware and building materials, consumer goods, household appliances and household appliances, and consumer electronics, to help Chinese enterprises further communicate online with politicians and businessmen in Central and North America and the Caribbean region. The exhibition period of this expo is 10 days and will end on November 18, 2022.

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Bluefin and Powertranz, who already provide the first and only integrated self-service kiosks supporting MSR, EMV, NFC and PCI-validated P2PE in the Caribbean, can now support J.E.T.S. debit card

CaribPR Wire, Hamilton, Bermuda and Atlanta, GA, Thurs, June 9, 2022: Bluefin, the leading provider of data and payment security technologies including PCI-validated point-to-point encryption (P2PE) solutions, and Powertranz, the local leader in Card Present gateway/payment processing for the Caribbean, announced support of local Jamaican debit card, J.E.T.S., together with the first secure, self-integrated contactless kiosks with validated P2PE for the market.

The companies introduced the first self-integrated contactless kiosk solution for the Caribbean last year that includes Bluefin as the validated P2PE provider, PowerTranz as the Card Present gateway/payment processor, and NRT kiosks that utilize Advanced Mobile Payments’ 6500 unattended devices.

Bluefin, Powertranz and NRT teamed with acquirer Scotiabank to develop a solution for C&W Communications, the leading telecommunications and entertainment provider in the Caribbean, which included developing the payment application, integrating the device in the kiosk software, and certifying the device with Fiserv for Mastercard, VISA, Discover and AMEX.  C&W Communications operates over 100 NRT-Opal bill payment kiosks in 14 countries in the Caribbean.

Now the solution supports the J.E.T.S. MultiLink debit card in Jamaica, a critical part of the financial landscape. J.E.T.S. Limited is an electronic banking service company operating Jamaica’s national debit card network whose registered service brand is “MultiLink”.  All J.E.T.S. member institutions, as Issuers, offer their customers access to cash from their own accounts through the MultiLink Network whether at Automated Banking Machines or at Point of Sale terminals.  MultiLink supports over 1 million users who use it to draw more than $85 Billion per year.

“We are thrilled to support the Jamaican MultiLink debit card,” said Chris Burns, CEO of Powertranz. “This is a popular card in Jamaica and it was especially important for C&W to have a chip and pin solution to accept all card payments including the J.E.T.S. multilink debit card at the kiosks.”

C&W and its partners are deploying 50 self-service kiosks across Jamaica and Trinidad & Tobago, and will continue to deploy additional self-service kiosks across their respective Caribbean markets.

The solution will also support Trinidad and Tobago LINX debit cards later this month.  InfoLink Services, the LINX debit card switch operator, is a joint venture between the four major financial institutions in Trinidad and Tobago, and was created to provide a local debit card switching infrastructure. The LINX debit chip card is a co-branded LINX/Visa debit card.

Sherie Forden, Senior Manager, C&W B2C OMNI Channels Eco-Systems said: “We are excited about this partnership with Bluefin and Powertranz. Customers love the ease and convenience of paying via debit card and this initiative will enhance the self-serve experience for FLOW customers who use our kiosks for their Bill Payments and to Top Up their mobile phones.”

“The complexity of a multi-country adoption of a uniform payment solution which supports a transnational utility service provider, an international financial institution, a local-centric payment gateway & processor, and a global Payment Council Industry certified data security provider offers a best of breed partnership to bring integrated self-service kiosks supporting MSR, EMV, NFC and validated P2PE to the Caribbean market,” said Eldred F. Garcia, VP of Security Solutions, Bluefin. “We are very excited to bring the much-needed installation of self-serve kiosks backed by validated PCI-validated P2PE with the inclusion of local debit to this market.”

About Powertranz

Powertranz is a sophisticated Card Present payment platform provider that processes integrated Point of Sale transactions, including EMV and PCI Validated Point to Point Encryption (P2PE), in Bermuda and the Caribbean marketplace. Powertranz is the first provider of PCI Validated P2PE in the Caribbean via its partnership with Bluefin. The company is based in Bermuda, along with its sister company, First Atlantic Commerce. For more information, please visit https://firstatlanticcommerce.com/powertranz/.

About Bluefin

Bluefin is the recognized integrated payments leader in encryption and tokenization technologies that protect payments and sensitive data. The company’s product suite includes solutions for contactless, face-to-face, call center, mobile, Ecommerce and unattended payments and data in the healthcare, higher education, government, and nonprofit industries. The company’s 200 global partners serve 20,000 enterprise and software clients operating in 47 countries. For more information, visit https://www.bluefin.com/.

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For First Time Ever, Consumers Can Use Their Face To Make Purchases With A Central Bank Digital Currency

PASADENA, Calif. and NASSAU, The Bahamas, May 19, 2022 /PRNewswire-HISPANIC PR WIRE/ — PopID and SunCash announced today that for the first time in history, consumers can now use the PopPay face verification platform to purchase goods and services with a central bank digital currency (CBDC) – digital money issued and backed by a government. Bahamian consumers can now link their SunCash account to PopPay to enable face pay transactions using their Sand Dollars. They can then spend the digital currency at a network of SunCash merchants using just their face for authentication. Various local and global brands are or will be accepting digital Sand Dollars authenticated by PopPay through the SunCash platform.

“PopPay’s cutting edge technology provides a more consumer-friendly, seamless, and secure experience for SunCash’s users,” said Desmond Pyfrom, CEO of SunCash.  The existing apps for transacting in digital Sand Dollar generally require consumers’ use of smart phones, QR codes, or various other codes to complete a transaction at the point of sale. “With the integration of the PopPay platform into the SunCash App, Bahamian consumers can now quickly, efficiently, and safely use the digital Sand Dollar to purchase food and other products even if the consumer does not have a functional smart phone or an internet connection,” said Pyfrom, as is the case for thousands of Bahamians.¹

The world is quickly moving towards central bank digital currencies—accelerated by the Covid-19 pandemic and the growth of cryptocurrencies. As of 2022, fourteen countries have launched CBDCs, or are in advanced pilots, and approximately 90 countries, accounting for over ninety percent of global GDP, are considering issuing CBDCs, according to the Atlantic Council.

The Bahamas was the first country to launch a CBDC when it deployed the Sand Dollar nationwide in October 2020. As part of that program, a limited number of supervised financial institutions were authorized to sponsor a mobile payment wallet for the digital dollar of the Bahamas. SunCash was one of the supervised financial institutions approved by the Central Bank of The Bahamas.

“The PopPay platform is designed to allow consumers to link any payment method to their face, including credit cards, debit cards, direct bank transfers, stablecoins, and CBDCs,” said John Miller, CEO of PopID and Chairman of its holding company, Cali Group.  “With governments around the world increasingly implementing CBDCs to replace physical cash, PopPay serves the critical policy objective of ensuring that all people can transact with the currency.”

“We applaud SunCash for its deployment of this solution that allows Bahamians to transact in Sand Dollar using only their face,” said John Rolle, Governor of the Central Bank of The Bahamas. “Such security features are important to increasing personal comfort around the use of digital payments and advancing the Central Bank’s goal of increasing financial inclusion among all segments of our society.”

A face pay option is an important feature for any country with the goal of increasing financial inclusion with the adoption of a CBDC, as those that are unbanked, under-banked, or without smartphones or reliable internet tend to be the most vulnerable parts of society.

Keith Russell of AD+ECH GLOBAL facilitated the partnership between PopID and SunCash.

About PopID
PopID provides a comprehensive platform, PopPay, for revolutionizing digital interactions and payments using facial verification. PopPay gives consumers the option of identifying themselves in the most natural way possible – with their face – for ordering and payment – enabling more personalized, secure, and streamlined experiences. To learn more about PopPay, visit www.popid.com

About SunCash
SunCash is the largest digital payments, mobile money, and e-commerce service provider in The Bahamas. SunCash’s proprietary technology provides financial solutions to all segments of society, including the banked, underbanked, and un-banked Bahamians, as well as non-resident populations in The Bahamas. SunCash has over 55,000 active wallet customers, accounting for approximately 1/7^th of the total population of The Bahamas, and more than 1,000 merchants who accept SunCash payment solutions. Customers can also access SunCash services online, through the SunCash App, at local stores, or from more than 100 kiosk locations throughout The Bahamas. SunCash is licensed by both the Central Bank and Securities Commission of The Bahamas. To learn more about SunCash, visit www.mysuncash.com

¹ Simon Kemp, “Digital 2022: The Bahamas” (Kepios 2022), https://datareportal.com/reports/digital-2022-bahamas.

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