The Tribune

By YOURI KEMP

Tribune Business Reporter

ykemp@tribunemedia.net

The Central Bank is slashing bureaucracy associated with Know Your Customer (KYC) due diligence so that Bahamians can more easily open bank accounts, its governor said yesterday.

John Rolle said: “We are focused intensively on continuing to improve the process and the experience of account opening. We’ve stressed that if a resident is going into the banks to open up an account, if they have the passport, that’s the only identification document that they need.

“We’ve also stressed that you don’t need to produce a utility bill. We know that that was something that was relied upon. But the institutions should verify that they have the means of contacting the individual. So it still speaks to having an address for the customer, but using modern means, by which you would contact and verify individuals via mobile, phone or email or those other means.

“We have provided that clarity in our guidance and, in the event individuals do not have a passport, they can rely on two combinations of other official identification, so that is very important to stress.”

Integrating the Central Bank’s digital currency, the Sand Dollar, with the commercial banking system is happening alongside the KYC streamlining. Mr Rolle said: “Integration between the Sand Dollar and the commercial banks is something we are actively engaged in.

“The most important part of the integration is having the Sand Dollar network connected through the ACH (Automated Clearing House) banking system. So we’re testing, and we’re doing more development to complete that process, which means that the holder of a Sand Dollar wallet or mobile payment account that’s interoperable with the Sand Dollar platform, they’ll be able to send and receive money against their bank account through the infrastructure.”

The Sand Dollar roll-out is “very important” for the Central Bank, Mr Rolle added, and he said: “This is timed along with other upgrades that are happening to the ACH. We’ve completed the testing fro the ability to send funds from the network into the deposit account. We are working over the remainder of this year to complete the ability of the system to receive funds from banks.”

Mr Rolle acknowledged that Sand Dollar usage remains low, which he attributed to on-going product development among financial institutions and service providers that offer mobile wallets. He added that these mobile wallet providers were busy signing up clients to their own respective applications, and not focusing on developing Sand Dollar awareness among consumers.

The Governor said: “We are at the stage now where we are in co-ordination with all of the participants, and our public education and awareness campaign will begin to ramp up. Once that begins to ramp up it will be the signal to the public that they can become more engaged in this process.

“One of the things that we want to stress to individuals is that it’s a payment system that is powered by the Sand Dollar, and it is powered by the Sand Dollar irrespective of who you choose to provide the mobile wallet.

“But we are also stressing that if you have a mobile wallet, you should be able to receive monies from anyone else who has a mobile wallet, irrespective of the brand, if they are a part of the network.”