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Pressing Ahead with Digital

Sagicor Digital Bank

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In December 2021 Prime Minister Mia Mottley revealed the launch of a digital bank was imminent while delivering the 16th Patrick Emmanuel Memorial Lecture, Forging a Nation Confronting New Realities. Last week SAGICOR Financial Company Limited (SFC) announced that it will establish a fully digital commercial bank come June or July 2022 through an entity called Sagicor Bank (Barbados) Limited (SBB). It is good to see the private sector stepping up to the plate to deliver on the vision which Mottley shared for Barbados in her address.

For small-island governments, the moment is now to be brave and to be strategic to build new frameworks of economic enfranchisement of our people, recognizing that we can do so not only through renewable energy but through embracing and understanding and deconstructing the power of the digital for our people to be able to … no longer be afraid of speaking and striving toward wealth creation…We need a generation of Caribbean millionaires and Caribbean billionaires if we are going to sustain these economies in our region – a generation of Caribbean young entrepreneurs that convert our particular sensibilities and approaches into billion-dollar global businesses…

Prime Minister Mia Mottley

See relevant link:

What is a neobank? Neobanks are financial institutions that give customers a cheaper alternative to traditional banks. They can be thought of as digital banks, thus having no physical branches, and offering services that traditional banks don’t.

If Sagicor’s digital bank is successful delivering on its mission, it should drastically change the cost of services for certain types of transactions in Barbados. The blogmaster is supportive of any initiative that will benefit the public. Barbados Underground has been highlighting government’s digitalization initiative as well as local fintechs making a splash in the global space.

See related links:

Of related interest, Barbadians who followed the recent budget debate learned that the National Payments System legislation and accompanying Fair Credit Reporting Act will be proclaimed on April 15, 2022 and a National Payments System Council will be in place by April 30th. The objective is to enable the new system to be in full operation by October, 2022. We wish the government well with timely implementation.

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108 responses to “Pressing Ahead with Digital”

  1. Wily Coyote Avatar
    Wily Coyote

    Barbados mis-management continues, TECHNOLOGY to the RESCUE. Technology is not a solution, its an EFFICENCY TOOL. Its time to start letting the donkey pull the cart rather than trying to push the cart.

    FAILURE is engrained in Barbadian DNA, the big question is can it be bred out ?

  2. TheOGazerts Avatar
    TheOGazerts

    A good read – above.
    Additional information below.

    https://jupiter.money/resources/what-is-a-neobank/

  3. Wily Coyote Avatar
    Wily Coyote

    Has anyone investigated how much $ insentives Barbados government is providing Sagicor for trying to implement the GOB idea.

  4. Vincent Codrington Avatar
    Vincent Codrington

    The risks undertaken by any new technology should be borne by the private sector. I do not understand why public funds and public resources should be diverted to a system from which shareholders will earn private profits.
    We seem to have a schizophrenic behaviour towards development. Either it is public sector driven or private sector driven. Either way the consumer / taxpayer pays the cost. In private sector development the investor has more skin in the game and is more careful with scarce resources.

  5. 555dubstreet Avatar
    555dubstreet

    Banks make money from treasury deposits of other peoples monies kept in custody safekeeping accounts, and lending the same monies to other customers for interest charges, these monies should go to the customers whose money is used.

  6. African Online Publishing Copyright ⓒ 2022. All Rights Reserved Avatar
    African Online Publishing Copyright ⓒ 2022. All Rights Reserved

    Thanks for the indepth info Theo….

    they are not stand alone, but according to people who use the already established ones, could come in handy internationally….there are many, many players out there now….

  7. David Avatar
    David

    @Wily

    What is your point, we should ignore technology? Why don’t you ignore it and post to BU using surface mail?

    We have to correct and develop, together.

  8. David Avatar
    David

    @Vincent

    What was it stated Sagicor has received incentives to mobilize a digital bank? Per usual we have the throwashadecrew who frame anything to do with Barbados in a negative way.

  9. wargeneral Avatar
    wargeneral

    With this new Sagicor Bank, I think the call for the reestablishment of a National Bank is now moot. It was said in 2019 by the government that any national bank in the future would be digital. The Neobank by Sagicor will be the first Barbados based Bank establish since BNB shares were sold to Republic 2003.

  10. Bush Tea Avatar
    Bush Tea

    With this new Sagicor Bank, I think the call for the reestablishment of a National Bank is now moot
    ~~~~~~~~~
    How is Sagicor different from FCIB?
    …except that FCIB has NOT so far scammed local policy holders …after they gave loyal support for CENTURIES- only to be discarded when success loomed?
    Bushie would not grace Sagicor with a single cent….. TRAITORS!!

    At least we know where the other banks stand as foreign owned entities…

  11. de pedantic Dribbler Avatar
    de pedantic Dribbler

    @David,you are throwing particularly ‘lots of shade’ yourself above with the push back @Willy and @Vincent … when their remarks suggest NOTHING of what you accuse either of doing.

    What’s all the fuss about a corporation investing in an idea to generate profits for their sharehoders especially when the idea is not necessarily competitively vastly different to other options in the market space!

    And what too is this hullabaloo about rather standard Govt speak like “We need a generation of Caribbean millionaires and Caribbean billionaires […] – a generation of Caribbean young entrepreneurs that convert our particular sensibilities and approaches into billion-dollar global businesses…” ?????? …. I get the enthusiasm for the new venture but this is MARKETING speak that could be used for any new tech venture that minimizes man-power needs: “If Sagicor’s digital bank is successful delivering on its mission, it should drastically change the cost of services for certain types of transactions in Barbados.”

    Seriously @David you know that neither of the brothers are condemning technology development – everyone like you is “supportive of any initiative that will benefit [Barbados]”

    Surely praise ALL positive initiatives but 1) to make it appear as if this is some earth shattering, seminal new original concept and 2) that one should NOT question HOW govt’ deploys its use of their limited funding to seed economic development is rather strange. Don’t you think!!! That’s what we do here on BU and on Brass Tacks etc daily …

    What’s so special about another ‘internet banking/investment portal’? What’s all this hullabaloo again I wonder beyond the joy of a new venture itself … what real special path is being forged here!

  12. David Avatar
    David

    @Dee Word

    You need to reread what the blogmaster wrote. The blogmaster acknowledged Wily’s concern with a caveat.

  13. 555dubstreet Avatar
    555dubstreet

    “And what too is this hullabaloo about rather standard Govt speak like “We need a generation of Caribbean millionaires and Caribbean billionaires […] – a generation of Caribbean young entrepreneurs that convert our particular sensibilities and approaches into billion-dollar global businesses…” ?????? …. I get the enthusiasm for the new venture but this is MARKETING speak that could be used for any new tech venture that minimizes man-power needs:”

    Nowadays people make money like rain just on their rep
    companies who make billions spend in millions
    some youths make thousands for 1 instagram post
    youths are actors who then become models for designer brands
    Halle Berry was paid $20 Million for her Directorial Debut in “Bruised”
    Netflix inked a mega three-project deal with Beyoncé worth $60 million, a third of which went to “Homecoming” the first of the trio.

  14. Bush Tea Avatar
    Bush Tea

    The old David used to be able to see beyond the clap trap rhetoric that seeks to equate the accumulation of money with ‘success’.
    There is clearly no SERIOUS correlation between the two.
    Many completely successful persons have only modest funds at their disposal, while some others, with literal money to burn, are clearly the most miserable, unhappy, insecure and hopeless beings on the damn planet.
    And even if we had any doubts about the distracting role of money, the realities of life as we speak should bring a degree of sanity to our priority setting endeavors – But instead, we persists with this focus on ‘money’….
    It NEVER fails to amaze the bushman that we can be so easily misled…. or that we NEVER seem to hear of initiatives that seek to RAISE the self esteem, level of equity, opportunities for development, and overall well-being of our less fortunate neighbors (Communities) by these so-called technological innovations.
    Always some damn scam to make the 1% richer – off the backs of the increasingly destitute 99%.

    Steupss ….
    The ONLY real consolation is that we are dealing with 99.9% brass bowls within BOTH the 1% and the 99%.

  15. African Online Publishing Copyright ⓒ 2022. All Rights Reserved Avatar
    African Online Publishing Copyright ⓒ 2022. All Rights Reserved

    “Always some damn scam to make the 1% richer – off the backs of the increasingly destitute 99%.”

    same scam in different flavors, that so easily impresses the mentally relaxed.

    that’s why we have to reach the targeted with the truth….it is a travesty to allow this backward trend to continue into another generation…..just published Kush Quarterly this morining touching on this dependent need to be robbed over and over again….then sidelined until the next scam…

    .this has gone way past Stockholm Syndrome, am sure someone will come up with a label for this before the year ends….

    there is hope, the young, my grandchildren’s age are having none of this…

  16. African Online Publishing Copyright ⓒ 2022. All Rights Reserved Avatar
    African Online Publishing Copyright ⓒ 2022. All Rights Reserved

    Bushman…it has become a fascination with being robbed, and no one is lifting a finger to stop it, don’t even want to address it….only concerned with pretending that all is good…this level of crazy must be documented…lol

  17. BAJE Avatar
    BAJE

    FIRST CREDIBLE THING I HAVE EVER SEEN THE 2 x 3 ISLAND GOVERNMENT DONE.

    President Irfaan Ali yesterday launched a major Black Belly Sheep Project in Region Five, West Coast Berbice which has 78 farmers on board already with an additional 1,000 black belly sheep expected to arrive from Barbados in the coming weeks.

    With an initial investment of US$3M, President Ali presented a detailed plan with a series of slides to farmers at Onverwagt, West Coast Berbice on how the government plans to build the industry to maximum potential. He said that Region Five will become the livestock capital of the country.

    Stressing that the project goes beyond just building the farms, he then stipulated that at least 20% of the farms must be led by women and 35% by youths – persons below the age of 35.

    https://www.stabroeknews.com/2022/03/28/news/guyana/president-launches-major-black-belly-sheep-project/

  18. African Online Publishing Copyright ⓒ 2022. All Rights Reserved Avatar
    African Online Publishing Copyright ⓒ 2022. All Rights Reserved

    If it had to take a pandemic, volcano, hurricane and now a war for Barbados and by extension the entire Caribbean to realize they HAVE TO do something about food security NOW and not tomorrow….am all for it…

    bet ya they wouldn’t have lifted a finger otherwise, if there was not now more water than flour….people in other countries are already faced with food rationing, flour and oil….

  19. Wily Coyote Avatar
    Wily Coyote

    @DAVID

    Get with the GOVERNMENT PROPAGANDA PROGRAM or they’ll take away your “Underground” and you’ll fall through the crack.

    Barbados MIS-MANAGEMENT CONTINUALLY pushes Technology to the forefront to solve ALL THEIR PROBLEMS, how about first going back and evaluating what the fundamental problem/issue is and see if there is a better, quicker, less expensive, pro-active etc solution. Oh yes this approach would require some degree of intelligence, having to make decisions supported by FACTS and not shite TALK. Remember this is a STATE that does not publish timely(within say 10 or so years) financials, reports, budgets etc and NEVER publishes any conclusions on programs implemented as to their effectiveness or meeting program initiatives.

    Remember in 65 years the country has went into FINANCIAL DEFAULT no less than FOUR(4) times and is on the cliff edge of a fifth.

  20. African Online Publishing Copyright ⓒ 2022. All Rights Reserved Avatar
    African Online Publishing Copyright ⓒ 2022. All Rights Reserved

    We have not even started talking about the IMF programs that they WILL NEVER GET OUT OF, or the 6 billion dollar albatross deficit……but the la la land inhabitants are swallowing all the empty talk….hook, line and SINKER(S)…

  21. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    The beat goes on.

    “The Senate has approved a resolution which provides for salaries equivalent to that of the deputy Prime Minister for the four senior ministers recently named by the Prime Minister.”

    https://www.nationnews.com/2022/03/28/senior-ministers-paid-level-deputy-pm/

  22. David Avatar
    David

    @Bush Tea

    You have to be careful not to be overwhelmed with cynicism.

  23. Bush Tea Avatar
    Bush Tea

    You have to be careful not to be overwhelmed with cynicism.
    ~~~~~~~~~~~
    Tried that. Thank you!
    Only works when asleep.
    All of the indicators have been too depressing.

    Can you give ANY positive indicators of hope…?
    That would be highly appreciated.

  24. Sargeant Avatar
    Sargeant

    @Hants

    I wrote recently that the fatted calf was not dead, but now we are a Republic it can be called the Golden calf
    Ho….hum

  25. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    Don’t ask why I post this video.

  26. Enuff Avatar
    Enuff

    Green Bank coming too.🤫

  27. NorthernObserver Avatar
    NorthernObserver

    Eugene Melnyk died today.

  28. David Avatar
    David

    @Bush Tea

    The positive indicator of hope is hope itself.

  29. David Avatar
    David

    New account

    Sagicor launching Barbados’ first digital bank
    by SHAWN CUMBERBATCH
    shawncumberbatch@nationnews.com

    BARBADOS’ $14 BILLION commercial bank sector’s battle for customers is about to intensify, with a former competitor preparing a big return to the market.
    Sagicor Financial Company Ltd., which as The Barbados Mutual sold the Mutual Bank of the Caribbean to Bermuda entity Butterfield and exited the bank business here in December 2003, has been granted a Central Bank licence to operate Barbados’ first digital bank.
    Senior officials of the company said yesterday that millions of dollars were already allocated towards the new business, which was intended to branch out into the Caribbean, and that digital insurance was also in their plans.
    Reports also indicated that experienced banking technologist George Thomas, who was CIBC FirstCaribbean International Bank’s deputy chief information officer, has been recruited to be Sagicor Bank (Barbados) Limited’s chief executive officer (CEO).
    Speaking yesterday during a fourth quarter earnings call with international financial analysts, Sagicor group president and chief executive officer Dodridge Miller called the launch of the digital bank here, which is expected around the middle of this year, “a significant initiative and one which we believe will represent an exciting expansion of the scope of engagements with our clients in the Southern Caribbean.
    “We believe it accelerates the pace of change and will pave the way for more digital initiatives throughout our business as we completely transform the way we interact with our markets and our customers,” he said.
    Miller added: “It’s not just about a digital bank, it is about digital transformation of our business in the Caribbean, starting with the bank, but we will also be moving that into our insurance. Because what we saw throughout the last two and a half years is the market not demanding but expecting a wider range of digital engagement.
    Customers
    “We know that banking in the Caribbean needs have changed. We have the relationship with the customers. We believe we are in a good position to do so and the opportunity is there and we would like to capitalise on it. But, naturally, we also expect that the insurance will also change, so we see the two moving together, with banking leading the way.”
    Sagicor group chief operating officer and chief financial officer Andre Mousseau said the digital bank was being worked on “for well over a year”.
    He explained that the group had “several millions dollars worth of cost” in 2021 working towards launch of that business.
    “I think we will probably look at breaking that out as a separate [business] segment going forward as it launches commercial operations.”
    The commercial banks now operating in Barbados are Canadian-owned FirstCaribbean, Royal Bank of Canada and Scotiabank, and the Trinidad and Tobagoowned institutions Republic Bank and First Citizens Bank. First Citizens bought the former Mutual Bank from Butterfield in 2012.
    While not naming Sagicor as the licensee, Central Bank Governor Cleviston Haynes recently told members of the Barbados Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors that his institution recently granted permission for the country’s first digital bank. His message to incumbent banks was that if they wished to compete effectively, they “will need to move swiftly to upgrade their technological platforms”.
    “Competition fuels innovation and demands greater efficiency, without which businesses stagnate. History is littered with examples of giants becoming complacent and then swiftly losing ground. The increased use of technology offers the potential for improvements in service and faster payments as well as for better customer relationship management,” Haynes said.

    Source: Nation

  30. 555dubstreet Avatar
    555dubstreet

    #GOD #Jesuschrist #EpiphanyDrowning
    SADDEST VIDEO WOMAN DROWNS JUMPING IN ICE HOLE IN FRONT OF HER CHILDREN ON EPIPHANY BATHING FOR GOD

    sacred pachamama

  31. William Skinner Avatar
    William Skinner

    Well, Well, Well. The Barbados Mutual now SAGICOR, gives us our first digital bank and we are delighted. So what’s new ?
    Peace.

  32. African Online Publishing Copyright ⓒ 2022. All Rights Reserved Avatar
    African Online Publishing Copyright ⓒ 2022. All Rights Reserved

    Bushman….the system itself has always and will ALWAYS be the problem for those who reside, accept and participate in it….for those sitting on the edges looking in, not so much..

    .there have always been those who have actively resisted it generationally. They paid a price in the 60s and 70s as William relates all the time, but now they are the ones LAUGHING BEST….and the LOUDEST…one can never be happy, healthy or wealthy in a system created by others…

  33. African Online Publishing Copyright ⓒ 2022. All Rights Reserved Avatar
    African Online Publishing Copyright ⓒ 2022. All Rights Reserved

    William…..it’s exhausting that our black people still try to indoctrinate each other into remaining slaves to criminals ..remaining under educated robbed and pauperized…and are proud and happy to engage in that recklessness, while trying to stop our younger generations from learning their history so they can propel themselves forward instead of the backward regression, unsuccessfully trying to push back progress by 2 and 3 generations….

    Kush Quarterly had nothing but downloads for yesterday’s publishing from continent to continent….can’t stop a thing…

  34. African Online Publishing Copyright ⓒ 2022. All Rights Reserved Avatar
    African Online Publishing Copyright ⓒ 2022. All Rights Reserved

    btw…given their anti-black history, i won’t put a dime in any such entity,…not when there are so many and better options here there and everywhere…

  35. David Avatar
    David

    @William

    Why shouldn’t we be delighted? We should wait on the credit unions?

    We should aspire to live in an inclusive society. The one you aspire of division has not place in a modern society. You will care your obsolete perspectives to the grave. Sagicor with its Caribbean origins has morphed into a successful international company. One we should be proud.

  36. William Skinner Avatar
    William Skinner

    @ WURA
    We never learn and sometimes we can’t. I did know that a digital bank was a big thing. We don’t realise that almost 60% of what was once considered banking is now done by regular retail trade. And that includes retail banking.

  37. David Avatar
    David

    @William

    Have you read the mission of the digital bank made public? What are the services it will sell? How will these products be priced to make financial services more affordable and accessible to Barbadians? So what if other players have entered the financial market, how will a neobank operate in the space compared to bricks and mortar storefronts? You do a disservice to your contributions by criticizing things you know nothing.

  38. William Skinner Avatar
    William Skinner

    @ David
    What are you trying to say. To me it’s no big thing in these times. It’s just another modern convenience my brother.

  39. African Online Publishing Copyright ⓒ 2022. All Rights Reserved Avatar
    African Online Publishing Copyright ⓒ 2022. All Rights Reserved

    William…we know they are always behind in everything and then when they finally catch up, act like they invented the wheel….my problem with them is they are misleading the people who could least afford it so they can promote and be proud of racists and thieves…

    it is clear, they will never learn….that’s why many platforms have turned to educating the people so we don’t get a consistent repeat of the last 55 plus years and COUNTING….BS without end is killing the people..regression is destroying the young…..but some don’t care as long as they can promote a decayed, dead narrative that is also finishing them off, but they can’t see it, dah is dem bidness…..

    Check out what happened with the visit by the palace couple…that is what a lot of them will love to continue to see….the eternally slave minded used as photo ops….but…RA is in control, so it went sideways in a good way, in our favor, but the most absorbed in and obsessed with keeping their people trapped in bondage and disenfranchisement missed the whole thing, which is not surprising…and would not know what to do with such an event anyway…

    …..i have an article that will be published later today on my Webflow site, titled Decolonization of the Entire Caribbean Region…check it out when you have some time…will let you know when it’s up for viewing..

    not every blog or site will be forward-thinking or progress, or in favor of Black/Afrikan advancement. We learned that the hard way on BU and can move on from there to do what we do best, since we know what to expect, the hardest thing is to know..and we have all the tools available to us to do the most good…don’t have to wait on anyone to decide what we should publish or post..

  40. TheOGazerts Avatar
    TheOGazerts

    Trying to walk and chew gum at the same time…

    What became of Bitt. Amazing how some things fall off of the radar as we move to the next shiny object.

    Will be googling.

  41. TheOGazerts Avatar
    TheOGazerts

    Stories come and go. We get a bit here and sometimes after we get a bit there.

    If they do not, these papers need a financial section and dedicated financial writer.

  42. David Avatar
    David

    @William

    The blogmaster does not have the time.

  43. African Online Publishing Copyright ⓒ 2022. All Rights Reserved Avatar
    African Online Publishing Copyright ⓒ 2022. All Rights Reserved

    remember the big hype for the metaverse scam….and on and on they went, not a word since, we wait for the next big announcement…..am sure it will be very difficult to miss…in the meantime and in between time the world has left them all behind where they belong…

    .even the ones who are usually up front and center with the newest changes got caught out in left field. after reading everything wrong, and that is with warnings that their route was also the wrong one which they ignored.

    ..this new Black world order is not for the backward, the feint of heart nor the overly confident and complacent who take others for granted……saw some still warbling on about a new world order but that is the white one that they are trying to fit into, cause no one wants them in any other, they just can’t be trusted,,,

  44. David Avatar
    David

    Digital Currency Management System | Bitt

    https://www.bitt.com/

  45. 555dubstreet Avatar
    555dubstreet

    When I went to USA to work in IT
    I used to chill out in my crib watching Yo! MTV Raps

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9_nAZ3VEA0

  46. NorthernObserver Avatar
    NorthernObserver

    What confuses me, is most of these Canadian Banks already have a digital only banking arm. Scotia bought ING years ago, rebranded it Tangerine, with an exclusive focus on digital. CIBC has Simplii financial. etc etc And other non-bank entities entered the space too, like Power Corp via Wealth Simple (like Sagicor, Power have large insurance holdings) or others like Equitable Bank (EQ Bank) formerly the Equitable Trust Co.(they are big in mortgages)
    Yet, none of Schedule 1 banks with Caribbean arms, have sought to launch them in the Caribbean?

  47. David Avatar
    David

    @NO

    Isn’t it obvious? Wouldn’t it call for significant investment in small unsophisticated markets?

  48. Sargeant Avatar
    Sargeant

    @David
    One of the major Canadian Banks had a division that promoted digital banking in the US about 15-20 years ago and it failed miserably. Don’t know whether the concept was new to the target consumer and that was the reason for its rejection or people just wanted “bricks and mortar”.

    When/if Sagicor enters the business, it will join e.g., Manulife which operates a digital bank in the GWN. I believe that it is targeted to their policy holders who can do one stop shopping as I haven’t seen any ads trying to entice people to open accounts or apply for mortgages etc. Perhaps Sagicor’s modus operandi will be to ensure their clients with substantial retirement funds vested in their company don’t walk out the door to other financial entities.

  49. David Avatar
    David

    @Sargeant

    Thanks, one imagines this is the model Sagicor will use with its large regional footprint.

  50. David Avatar
    David

    @Sargeant

    Of recent Sagicor has been heavily advertising this fund.

    Sagicor Renewable Energy Fund- Sagicor

    https://www.sagicor.com/en-bb/personal-solutions/investment/mutual-funds/sagicor-renewable-energy-fund

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