The investment in digital payment systems is an opportunity for Barbados to engage the world.
Minister in the Ministry of Finance, Ryan Straughn, emphasised this point, noting that digital efforts would reduce the cost of moving money across the economy and outside of Barbados.
He also called on Barbadians, whether creatives, vendors, retailers or juice makers, to focus on leveraging such opportunities, to maximise opportunities to export local products and earn foreign exchange.
Mr. Straughn was speaking during the relaunch of the SurePay brand at its Warrens Industrial Park, Warrens, St. Michael offices, recently.
“The opportunity now, as Barbadians, is to come into the 21st century and lead with the investment with respect to digital payments in the region. The only way to do that is if entities like SurePay leverage that trust built up with their clientele over the years, to get those persons onboard and recognise that there will be multiple platforms that communicate to the system and allow them to do any business they want to do with any department,” he said.
Mr. Straughn also address concerns related to the security of such transactions, noting that the Central Bank of Barbados and the Financial Services Commission had taken steps to ensure that the cyber security regime was in place to offer the best possible security.
He added that Government had established a “strong” cyber security working group, which was intended to ensure that Barbadians’ data was protected from theft.
The Minister further stated that unlike Instagram and Facebook, where personal details were exchanged with unknown sources, entities like SurePay were trusted entities and known.
“Adopting digital technologies provides greater physical security to operators. You don’t have to worry about someone coming to take the cash out of the till…because if you are on board with a payment platform it eliminates that completely.
“It makes sense to work together to onboard as many people as quickly as possible. The risk reduction it poses to your business is a real benefit,” he said.
Meanwhile, Director of SurePay, Anthony Yearwood, said the company, now in its 20th year, allows consumers to pay over 90 bills at 45 locations or via SurePay online channels.
He explained that users can now connect multiple bank accounts, debit and credit cards to their accounts for additional payment options.
Mr. Yearwood further outlined that while in previous times customers had to have a local account to register for SurePay online, that was no longer the case as they can now register with a Visa or MasterCard.
“This makes it easy for persons in the diaspora to pay for services delivered in Barbados, or on behalf of their families here at home,” he said.
Mr. Yearwood added that persons may also now set reminders on their accounts, get notifications via emails when their bills are due and receive automatic receipts by email or text message after completing a transaction.
