By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A Bahamian digital payments provider is aiming to "pull the boot strap strings together" and add a further 8,000-10,000 wallet accounts by fully exploiting its platform's potential.

Jeffrey Beckles, Island Pay's managing director, told Tribune Business it had invested "quite handsomely" in its technology infrastructure since its formation in 2015 and now planned to leverage this into the roll-out of a full product menu with nationwide reach.

He added that the payments provider, which has ambitions to evolve to the extent that clients can conduct all banking and financial services from their phone, will have a presence in Exuma, Eleuthera, Long Island and San Salvador by the end of the 2021 first quarter.

Disclosing that Island Pay is one of the few companies expanding its workforce, with full-time staff set to grow from 11 to 15 in short order, and third-party providers taking headcount to 25, Mr Beckles said the company's target was not only to improve convenience for individual Bahamians but also boost this nation's ease of doing business and competitiveness as a jurisdiction.

With 27,000 total online customer wallets, including the 20,000 accounts that it distributes the Government-funded unemployment benefit to on the National Insurance Board's (NIB) behalf, the Island Pay chief told this newspaper: "We're moving quickly. By the end of this year with the new programs rolled-out, we will have another 8,000-10,000.

"We have growing demand in Abaco, Grand Bahama and Eleuthera.... By the end of the first quarter 2021 we will be in Exuma, Eleuthera, Long Island and San Salvador." Speaking to the loss of physical commercial bank branches in many Family Islands, Mr Beckles pledged that Island Pay and other digital providers will fill the gap.

"I think the message for our Family Islands across the board should be one of optimism that there is a solution that is being readied to be rolled out, and the degree to which they can expect it in the short-term is pretty high.

"There's no need to panic. We're working with all our stakeholders on plans to ensure there's a suitable solution from end to end; all the way down from Bimini in the north to Inagua. The governor of the Central Bank said it was important to have financial inclusion, and we at Island Pay are committed to making that happen."

Mr Beckles said criticisms of Island Pay over the allegedly late payment of unemployment benefits were "misplaced", adding that payments were sent to electronic wallets within four hours of receiving the go-ahead from NIB which had to process and verify the transactions first.

"The Bahamas, as it prepares for its digital transformation, we view it not as a destination but a continuum," he added. "Island Pay intends to work with policymakers, regulators and stakeholders to ensure we're ahead of the game.

"We're not looking at what we need to do next year; we're looking at what we need to do in the next five, ten and 15 years out. Our focus is on where The Bahamas needs to go to become ready, yes, but also on how we want to make the Bahamas more competitive, more attractive as a jurisdiction in this new global environment we're in."