Redefining banking models to sieze digital age opportunities

by Bevil Wooding

Customers across the Caribbean look longingly at innovations in the US and other markets, such as full-service online and mobile banking, marketplace lending facilities and merchant payment solutions. The open question is if, or when, similar facilities will become available locally.

The competitive landscape in the Caribbean does not provide optimal incentive for fast-paced, customer-centric, banking services innovations. Instead, dreams of Caribbean e-commerce initiatives and Internet-based entrepreneurism are often dashed at the doors of traditional financial institutions.

For many, the region’s financial services status quo seems at variance with calls for greater innovation and economic diversification in the wider economy. This is a major problem that must be addressed.