The Tribune

The late Sir William Allen’s sons yesterday confirmed they have taken control of a Bahamian digital payments provider with ambitions to become a “dominant player” and “saturate” the Family Islands in 2025.

Andrew Allen, an attorney by profession, told Tribune Business that he and his brother, William Allen junior, are now Island Pay’s chairman and managing director, respectively, after Richard Douglas, the provider’s Canadian co-founder, exited his direct involvement and interest in the company.

Disclosing that the business has “stabilised” following Mr Douglas’ departure, he said the brothers - together with other Board members and staff - are aiming to rapidly expand Island Pay’s network of self-pay kiosks and automated teller machines (ATM) to up to 120 locations via a roll-out set to begin in early 2025.

Revealing that Exuma is the first island in Island Pay’s sights, Mr Allen told this newspaper that it is also in negotiations with the National Insurance Board (NIB) to resume the role it fulfilled during the COVID-19 pandemic when it facilitated thousands of electronic payments of unemployment benefits on the social security system’s behalf.

And, while seeking to meet the demand for financial and payment services on islands “abandoned” by commercial banks and their branches, Island Pay’s chairman said it is already looking ahead to potential expansion beyond The Bahamas’ borders with potential moves into the Caribbean and Latin American regions come 2026.

“That’s true,” Mr Allen confirmed of the changes at Island Pay, which his late father co-founded with Mr Douglas. “We’ve just moved in and taken over all the responsibilities and relationships and moved on. We’re moving forward with full plans to build and roll-out our kiosks, ATMs throughout the country beginning with Exuma next month.”

Island Pay already has locations at CBS Bahamas and Lynden Pindling International Airport (LPIA) and Mr Allen, in what amounts almost to a relaunch of the company and its brand, said it is refocusing on expanding this network to the Family Islands “to replace” the commercial banks, serve consumer needs that are not being met and boost financial inclusivity.

“Payments in the Family Islands are already being facilitated by ourselves,” he told Tribune Business. “We intend to be huge. We intend to roll-out at least 100-120 ATMs throughout the islands and be in all major islands. We intend to saturate the islands where the banks have pulled out. We’re looking to begin the roll-out in the Family Islands in January.”

“The plan is to roll-out immediately, beginning with Exuma, and to saturate Exuma, Long Island, Andros, Inagua, Eleuthera this coming year, every month of the year, and to make sure, now we have stabilised ourselves and are under new leadership, to consummate the various relationships that were always in the works.”

Island Pay is also seeking to revive prior payment relationships with government agencies. “We are in talks with NIB,” Mr Allen confirmed. “We had NIB before with their unemployment benefit and insurance. That came to an end but we’re back talking to relaunch something.

“We have been in talks with NIB seeking to work with them, and have a signed contract with the Ministry of Health that we’re seeking to consummate. We’re looking at unique ways to roll that out, and will be getting more equipment in beginning next month. We’re in talks with lots of private entities, big private entities - I wouldn’t want to name one - who are looking to use our electronic wallets.

“We have some payroll clients now who we do payroll services for, private entities. We’re really looking to get up to.... having handled 16,000 payments for NIB, we’re looking for collective payments to be in the hundreds of thousands, and we’re looking at revenues to be very substantial.”

Asked about Island Pay’s growth ambitions, and how large it now plans to become, Mr Allen says the electronic payments provider has the ability to “ramp up very quickly” from a current staff of about ten-12. “If you’re looking at the banking industry, we’re trying to move into what has been abandoned in much of the country,” he told Tribune Business.

“We’re looking to have banking services on all the major islands in 2025. We’re looking to be a dominant player in the market again. We’re trying to introduce many things and bring them to fruition for the company to ensure that it delivers banking services to  a country that has unique challenges geographically from a dispersed population that is dispersed over a large area.

“It is where the banks have pulled out and services are not meeting the needs of the population. Yes, we intend to be a big driver of business and improve the quality of life throughout the country.” Mr Allen said Exuma is the first island to be targeted because an affiliated company in which he has an interest, GNX (the former Global Nexus), is launching its “trunk cable” there on January 12.

That will provide the necessary Internet backbone and connectivity to multiple Exuma cays and locations, such as Black Point, Staniel Cay, Farmer’s Cay and Rolleville, to support and provide the necessary platform for Island Pay to deliver its services.

Disclosing that GBX will unveil the launch of its own subsidiary, a wi-fi (wireless Internet) services provider for Exuma, in the New Year, Mr Allen added of Island Pay: “We have a lot of equipment and investment on the ground. We’ll likely invest a few million more over the next two years in actual hardware and building contacts with private sector entities. That requires an investment on our part.

“We see ourselves as becoming an extremely large player. We see it as being an extremely large player in the Bahamian economy and fashioning itself as something unique to The Bahamas with its digital payments. That’s not necessarily a bricks and mortar investment.”

Confirming that Island Pay’s ambitions are not confined within this nation’s borders, Mr Allen added: “We see ourselves as anchored in The Bahamas but, moving very quickly, we see ourselves as expanding into both the Caribbean and Latin America. We’re looking in the next two years or so to make our next movement outside The Bahamas.”

Describing Mr Douglas’s exit as “more complicated” than it might appear, he said the Canadian investor who co-founded Island Pay alongside Sir William is no longer a shareholder in the company but still has “a relationship” with the Bahamian provider through software supplied by his Cayman Islands-domiciled firm.

Mr Allen said his late father had held all Island Pay’s shares, and the plan for Mr Douglas to apply to take ownership of them had been “denied” by the Government and its regulatory agencies.