Guest Post - Uncharted Fintech Waters, Look No Further than the Caribbean

By Jorge Salum, Senior Director, Business Development for Visa Latin America and the Caribbean

The last decade has been marked by a rapid shift towards digital. Fintech have played an important role in propelling the payments and money movement industry to reach more people and businesses, tackle once “unsolvable” challenges, and accelerate the adoption of emerging technologies.

In Latin America and the Caribbean, fintech investment and growth continue to be a source of positive news. According to a recent CB Insights report, last year represented the second largest investment year on record (despite the marked drop in funding) with the emergence of seven new unicorns across insurance, payments, and banking segments, and an increased offering to SME. And while Mexico and Brazil continue to be the largest markets for the fintech sector, the Caribbean has shown incredible momentum. Markets like Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Trinidad & Tobago, and Jamaica are emerging as prospective fintech hubs, because in addition to breathtaking sceneries and friendly locals, they boast fertile grounds for innovation.

Caribbean markets, although relatively small in size, have the potential to serve as innovation incubators for small and large fintechs alike. The region provides a mix of markets with favorable regulatory and tax conditions paired with broad diversity in population size, economic mix, banking and infrastructure penetration, and financial and digital literacy. This provides ample opportunities for fintechs and other innovative players to introduce a large range of solutions that can quickly have a measureable impact on the local market, and utilize these learnings to scale to other markets.

In addition, there are significant untapped opportunities, where the existing payments infrastructure provide fintech with the foundation to develop impactful, scalable solutions. One is remittances, which are not only a lifeline for individuals, but are also vitally important for the prosperity of many developing economies. Based on the World Bank Remittances Prices Worldwide Database, as global remittance inflows continue to reach new highs and consumers turn to digital apps to send and receive funds around the world, opportunities for fintechs in regions like the Caribbean are ample. Notably, solutions such as Visa Direct, widely present in the Caribbean, enable the sending and receiving of remittances in near real time from many of the leading global remittance companies and can be foundational for fintech developing remittance-focused solutions.

Another important business opportunity is centered around the development and inclusion of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs). Fintech with turnkey digital or acceptance solutions and efficient delivery channels have an opportunity to make an impact in the market. Visa owns and partners with multiple gateway providers that provide fintech with one integration point to reach most markets in the region. These gateways also provide fintech an efficient source of innovation that enable new use cases and functionalities.

One market that has seen recent fintech momentum is Trinidad & Tobago, where regulatory changes, infrastructure development and strong market coordination have created a more inviting environment for innovative companies to make an impact. This has led to an influx of local companies applying for Electronic Money Issuer Licenses, which would allow them to issue payment credentials, and an acceleration in the number of SMEs that are interested in accepting electronic payments. In addition, the TTIFC, with the support of the Ministry of Finance and sponsors like Visa, recently inaugurated One Fintech Hub, a collaboration space focused on connecting electronic payments stakeholders and enabling local and regional fintechs to grow their businesses.

Redefining the future of payments requires a collective effort, which is why we value and foster collaboration. We support fintech partners of all shapes and sizes, through programs like the Fintech Fast Track (designed to help launch financial features quickly) and the Visa Everywhere Initiative (designed to help startups in more than 100 countries collectively raise more than $16 billion in funding since its inception). We know that the next big thing in payments can come from anyone, anywhere. For that, we feel energized and remain committed to continue exploring and developing solutions alongside fintechs, enablers, and other payment partners in the Caribbean and beyond to uplift more individuals, communities, and businesses everywhere.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Who makes the best cheesecake?

This is a chapter from my fourth book called When hunger yearns It's three in the morning and all through the house is quiet and not a creature is stirring, not even a mouse. I bet a mouse's favorite dessert is cheesecake and so is mine. So it's in the wee hours of the morning and I am thinking about cheesecake and specifically who makes the best cheesecake? I suspect it would be some recipe handed down from generation to generation. Probably someone's grandma from the town where cheesecake originated from. I read that even though we may think that cheesecake originated in New York that it actually goes further back to over four thousand years on the Greek island of Samos. The Greeks there created the earliest known cheesecake. No wonder I think that the cafe in my village that sells Samosas makes the best cheesecake. Is there a connection between Samos in Greece and Samosas? There is not much written about this on the internet but I did find one blog post that tried t...
Read more

My notes from the book "Sick to fit"

My notes from this book. If you are interested in what I noted then give the book a read. Free on Amazon Kindle - https://a.co/2bTlDVF Fun and scientific Life changer Josh's story Eating, moving and thinking right I think my genetics and mental illness and meds makes it much harder to lose weight and get fit Hope is important Free on Amazon app NAQ - naturally attainable quantities Community is important Eating to deal with problems Pragmatism and self-love More than a fitness journey, its a lifestyle journey Avoid burn out One step at a time Don't fall into the perfectionist trap Learn from failure Overconfidence Positive feedback loop Results matter - it is the feedback we have Beware of plateaus Look for results that cannot be measured like happiness and curiosity If when then plan Unconscious vows and character decisions NAQs answer the question, "does this question make sense" The downside of living in our comfort zone Find your community You are what you eat We ...
Read more

Book Review - Outliers

I was stoked to be reading this book. It comes with good reviews and it is meant to be uplifting. I do not view success like most people do. The simple and ordinary and every day equates to success to me most of the time. Sometimes I dream big but then settle back into the ordinary. I have peace of mind and I am content. I like the idea that health could be related to community, something that modernity has been moving away from. The book starts with a story about how community and values affects who we are and how this relates to success. From the get go it was clear what the book is about. Outliers. Persons who do things out of the ordinary. We may think of success as grit and talent but we owe a lot to our circumstances. I like that the book draws attention to this because we will be less hard on others and ourselves and we should want to level the playing field. We are asked to think about how people are given systematic advantages to progress in life. I like this quote from the bo...
Read more

Prayers

This is a chapter from my fifth book called Freedom There is freedom in praying to God. I have been connecting with and getting closer to God for the last few years but I only recently started reading my salat (5 daily prayers in Islam). Before that I would do one voluntary salat everyday after I bathe. I am a late bloomer in this regard and I still have things to do to master my salat and my faith and my life. I play the azan and iqamah from youtube and also the prayer after azan. I follow along the steps of the salat from youtube until I could on my own. I have an app called prayer alarm that lets me know it is time to pray. I also have the Quranly app I use to read daily verses from the Quran. This is my journey and I thank God for guiding me along this path. In hindsight my life could have kept me and taken me down the wrong roads but somehow my heart was always on the straight path even when my mind and desires and circumstances and flaws were sending me the wrong way. The word ra...
Read more

What comes after technology?

This is a chapter from my fourth book called When hunger yearns I think that humans could advance to such a state that we do not need technology. I am thinking thousands and thousands of years from now. I am thinking of things that seem improbable now. Who needs air conditions when the body has adapted to cool itself even in the harshest heat? Who needs the internet when there is telepathy? Who needs cars and trains when the body can teleport at will? Who needs food production when we get all our energy needs from the sun? Who needs shelter when the body does not need sleep and can heal from any disease or injury? Is that what we can call heaven? This is far fetched thinking but it has me questioning our reliance on technology. We are developing more and more technologies where technology has become our savior. We are relying less and less on our humanness and nature and what is natural. This disconnect means we are treating our bodies and nature with less reverence. Seems odd for a te...
Read more