Finance Leaders on Fintech and what it means for TCI 

Dana Malcolm 

Staff Writer 

#TurksandCaicos, September 15, 2023 – A regulatory structure for FinTech is something that governments and regulators need to be looking at now, before the inevitable boom that is sure to come in the future, this is according to David Oakden, Chairman of the Financial Services Commission (FSC).

“People are scratching the surface and are coming up ill all sorts of applications for financial technology and at some point, we are going to hit a breakthrough and FinTech is gonna take off,” he explained.  “I can see something happening, when this happens we are going to have an industry that is not regulated, that we will have to very rapidly try to come up with some kind of regulation for.”

FinTech encompasses technology that delivers financial services from online banking to money transfers.  Oakden had a rather bleak outlook on its potential impact on the Financial Services Sector.  He described it as ‘companies taking advantage of inefficiencies in the banking system to provide limited services,’ and warned it could constrict the current Financial Services Sector.

“The existing industry is going to suffer a severe reduction in business because of the FinTech competitors,” he warned.

E Jay Saunders, TCI Finance Minister, and Deputy Premier had a different outlook, he says he is intent on harnessing FinTech to make life easier for residents.

“FinTech is an area that we need to promote more, especially as banks are more and more reducing in-person services,” Saunders stressed.  The comment comes as several Turks and Caicos Banks (and banks all over the world) shutter their doors and the ones that remain open have streamlined their processes.

The Turks and Caicos has been a step behind in the financial sector and is now trying to digitize and automate much of its sector.

“Note that FinTech simply means “Financial Technology.” Online banking is an example of FinTech.  So, when I say that we do need to promote FinTech, I’m more talking about the technologies that augment current banking services, thereby making them easier to access and utilize.  In this regard, I have, in my position as Minister of Finance, been pushing the banking association hard to roll out new FinTech services,” Saunders assured.