By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The Bahamian digital currency’s roll-out will hit “further milestones” next month, the Central Bank’s governor says, with consumers gaining the ability to switch funds between their bank accounts and mobile wallets.

John Rolle, pictured, told Tribune Business that public education on the Sand Dollar will “ramp up” through August going into fall 2021 as the momentum for its nationwide roll-out continues to gather pace.

“We are presently working to launch some of the public education campaign,” he added. “We are very much further along in that process than we have ever been, and that’s going to have some deliberate focus, not just on New Providence but the Family Island communities, where there are greater gaps in access to services on a daily basis.

“The public education campaign will begin to ramp up, as once we get through August into early fall, we are going to be starting that. The very current item we are working on completing is connectivity with the banking system so that there will be two-way connectivity for persons wanting to channel funds from their deposit accounts.

“That work is very advanced, and focused on ensuring integration between mobile platforms and the Automated Clearing House. I anticipate we should hit some of those milestones in August. It’s broken into several steps but we anticipate completing that this year.”

The Central Bank’s governor previously said the Bahamian digital dollar will “strengthen defences against money laundering and other financial crimes” because every transaction can be tracked and recorded, as well as move the Bahamian payments system further away from a cash-based society, thereby improving the security and certainty associated with financial transactions.

Arguing that Sand Dollar will make Bahamian communities, especially those in remote Family Islands, less vulnerable to the “logistical challenges of handling cash”, Mr Rolle added then: “The Sand Dollar is not anonymous, as neither are credit card or debt card transactions.

“But our first priority through regulation will be to strengthen data privacy and other consumer protection for both the digital currency and other electronic payments transactions The Central Bank wants the public to understand that this infrastructure will strengthen Bahamian defences against money laundering and other financial crimes, joining up with other parts of our financial system where transaction monitoring is the norm.”

The governor continued: “We want the public to be assured of our obligation and commitment to maintain a secure infrastructure for digital payments. All participants, including the Central Bank, will be subject to independent third-party scrutiny of the resilience of our maintained systems to cyber attacks and other vulnerabilities.

“We will also educate users on the importance of maintaining their mobile phones security to protect the access to funds in their wallets. Although the phone only provides access to digital wallets, and does not store the money, practicing secure phone usage is still important.”