The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Future opportunities for financial technology were debated last week as executives from government and financial services gathered in Nassau for MasterCard’s first Fintech summit in the Caribbean.

Attendees participated in several sessions that explored ways to improve financial inclusion while encouraging innovation in safe and convenient digital payments.

According to the study, The state of financial inclusion post-COVID-19, conducted by MasterCard and Americas Market Intelligence, although the global pandemic accelerated the use of digital payment methods in Latin America and the Caribbean there are still communities that rely exclusively on cash to manage their finances and are therefore excluded from the formal financial sector.

To help address these challenges, MasterCard said it is working closely with multiple fintech firms, granting them access to a broad range of programmes and initiatives to help their launch, growth and diversification while ensuring simple, safe and smart payment experiences.

During the summit, the company highlighted the relevance of building strong public-private partnerships (PPPs) that foster the development of a robust, innovative, and growth-prone payments ecosystem, thus bringing more Caribbean nations into the digital economy.

"The Caribbean fintech ecosystem shows great promise and continued growth. At MasterCard, we understand and value the positive impact fintechs have in fostering the region's digitalisation, financial inclusion and overall economic growth," said Jimena Elia, country manager for West & Dutch Caribbean Markets at MasterCard.

"As such, we have become their partner of choice, granting them access to our technology, resources, talent and vast network of contacts to help them keep on growing and innovating. I am confident that together we will build a more inclusive and digitised future for all Caribbeans."