Continuing our Fintech in the Caribbean series, and with Dr. Jan Schröder of CaribCoin, and Rodney Taylor of the Caribbean Telecommunications Union, we discuss fintech in the region, the opportunities and challenges that exist, along with digital currencies, CBDCs and CaribCoin, a regional stablecoin that is currently being developed, which has the potential to transform trade and the wider Caribbean business landscape.

 

This episode is also available on SoundCloud, Apple iTunes, Google Play Music, Spotify, Amazon Music and on Stitcher!

Across the Caribbean region, there is still considerable excitement about the potential of financial technology to transform live and livelihoods of its citizens, along with the economies of individual countries and the region as a whole. However, and in order for the Caribbean region to participate fully in the growing and potentially highly lucrative space, we need to have a critical mass of people participating in and leveraging the opportunities that are emerging. It thus means that more people – not just the pioneers and early adopters – need to understand the fintech space, and ultimately, become comfortable enough to figure out how best to navigate it.

On Friday, 3 June, the Caribbean Telecommunications Union will be having a webinar entitled, Demystifying Cryptocurrency and Digital Cash in the Caribbean, in which it hoped to continue to increase awareness, whilst also highlighting the risks, opportunities and challenges. However, that event will also include a discussion of CaribCoin, a regional stablecoin backed by Caribbean assets this it is hoped will facilitate a quasi-monetary union for the region.

As we continue our exploration of Fintech in the Caribbean, we took the opportunity to get a better understanding of what CaribCoin could do, along with discussing the challenges and opportunities for Central Bank-backed Digital Currencies (CBDCs), and for a regional stablecoin.

 

Introducing our guests

Dr Jan Schröder

In 1991, Dr. Jan Schröder stopped chasing elementary particles at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland. Since then he has been highly active in the field of social innovation with a focus on decentralised network governance, social impact management and application of Distributed Ledger technology. Internationally he is renowned as the architect of the German initiative ‘Local Alliances for Family’, bringing together more than 25.000 institutions in over 700 local stakeholder networks with one billion media contacts.

Dr. Schröder is involved in several projects to leverage the possibilities of Distributed Ledger Technology to foster social impact. Tokenomics, social system architecture and governance are his core fields of knowledge. Recently he has joined contec as Manager for Innovation and Network Management in the health and care sector, responsible for a team of 20. He is also involved in the CaribCoin, along with other ventures in the Caribbean region.

 

Rodney Taylor

Rodney Taylor is the Secretary General (SG) of the Caribbean Telecommunications Union. Prior to that appointment he was the Chief Digital Technology Officer of the Ministry of Innovation, Science and Smart Technology (MIST), in Barbados, where he was the technical lead on Barbados’ digital transformation, to improve public sector service delivery through strategic use of innovation, science and SMART technology.

The SG has over 20 years of professional experience, which includes managing the Information Systems Unit in Barbados’ Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade and its overseas missions. He also previously served as the Business Development and Operations Manager of the CTU, where he worked with regional governments in the development of policies to govern ICT and represented the region in many international ICT conferences. He also led the work to operationalise the CTU’s Caribbean Centre of Excellence, to offer consultancy services to the Member States and others.

 

Insights into our conversation

As we are all aware, the fintech sector has been growing exponentially. Depending on the source, the global market is reportedly growing at a compound annual growth rate of 20%, and is expected to have a value of around USD 305 billion by 2025 (Source:  insider Intelligence), and have a total transaction value of around USD 24,359 billion! (Source: Statista). Hence, if the Caribbean region can position itself well, there are opportunities to be had.

The proposed stablecoin is an exciting development in the Caribbean/CARCIOM space, as it could provide region with a means to transfer funds, and so do business, more efficiently and effectively than is currently the case. To that end, CaribCoin could also be pivotal for CSME, the CARICOM Single Market and Economy, which many would argue has stalled over the last 20 years. So far it seems as if public and private sector leaders might be open to having a regional stablecoin; so hopefully it will be realised sooner, rather than later.

Below are a few of the questions posed to our guests during our conversation.

  1. Why is the CTU paying attention to fintech on in the region, and specifically cryptocurrency and digital cash, and fostering conversations on the issue?
  2. What is Carib$ stablecoin, and what does it hope to achieve?
  3. One of the compelling reason for creating digital currency has been to increase financial inclusion among Caribbean SMEs and citizens. However, it appears that the creation of digital cash wallets has been limited. It thus seems that the argument for digital currency might be flawed. What are your thoughts?
  4. One of the big challenges in the region’s banking and financial services sector is the appearance of risk, which has resulted in our banks being incredibly conservative and restrictive. How might we be able to better integrate our traditional banking and fintech ecosystems, as it seems that they will become increasingly siloed over time?
  5. How would you assess the state of fintech in the Caribbean region?
  6. Are there any key challenges that you have identified that could be affecting fintech innovation and development in the region?
  7. What do you think are the opportunities for crypto and/or digital cash in the Caribbean region?

 

We would love to hear from you!

Do leave us a comment either here beneath this article, or on our Facebook or LinkedIn pages, or via Twitter, @ICTPulse.

Also, if you or a member of your network is interested in joining us for an episode, do get in touch.

Let’s make it happen!

 

Below are links to some of the organisations and resources that either were mentioned during the episode, or otherwise, might be useful:

 

 

Images credit:  CTU;  J Schröder; PiggyBank (Unsplash); Photospirit (Pixabay)

Music credit: The Last Word (Oui Ma Chérie), by Andy Narrell

Podcast editing support: Mayra Bonilla Lopez