By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A Bahamian digital payments provider says it will shortly provide “full financial inclusion” for all islands with more than 50 persons once the necessary equipment arrives, and is installed, on Acklins.

Sun Cash, which says it has 85,000 customer accounts, added in a statement that every Bahamian and resident, regardless of where they live or whether a bank is physically present, will soon have the same ability to handle their financial transactions and obligations thanks to its nationwide expansion.

“As we mark our eighth anniversary this month, we are extremely pleased to report that the number of SunCash accounts now tops 85,000,” said Shawn Smith, its principal and director. “That number is not just about our success as a provider – it is a reflection of the need for a solution to the problem of how to conduct your financial affairs if you live on an island where banking facilities are scarce or non-existent.

“For those of us in New Providence or Grand Bahama, we don’t stop to think about what it is like to conduct the simplest of transactions, paying a BPL bill for instance or depositing wages. But for those living in Acklins, Mayaguana, Inagua, even closer to home in Andros or the Berry Islands, seemingly routine obligations can be complicated, challenging and often expensive.”

The challenges can be even greater, said Mr Smith, in cases involving a medical emergency or natural disaster where cash is needed urgently. “Sometimes those challenges can be life-threatening,” he added. Even routine matters pose challenges on islands where banks either never established a presence or pulled out.

For decades, residents of remote Bahamian islands have had to organise the equivalent of a money posse, sending a trusted member of the settlement to Nassau carrying envelopes of money to pay bills for residents back home, or deposit wages or shop revenue into a bank account in the capital.

“The struggles associated with that kind of financial exchange are not only slow and inconvenient, they put the individual carrying the money at risk for their safety. In an age when the ability to conduct transactions digitally is at our fingertips, burdening someone to transfer cash makes no sense,” Mr Smith said.

“It is too great a risk, too slow a solution, too inefficient and expensive, as the carrier of the funds has to be paid for not only the bank deposit or withdrawal but for the act of taking money around to pay bills for community members.”

Sun Cash launched in 2017 in a bid to provide financial solutions for Bahamians in locations where there is no physical bank presence or automated teller machine (ATM). “Sun Cash is now on every island in The Bahamas with any population over 50 persons, with the exception of Acklins, and we are only waiting for the mail boat to be back in the water to deliver the equipment that is ready to go to Acklins,” Mr Smith said.

“Then, for the first time in Bahamian history, there will be full financial inclusion for every resident whether they live in the heart of Nassau or the most remote corner of Mayaguana.”

SunCash operates 15 storefronts and a network of more than 200 ATMs and kiosks, with services that include deposits and withdrawals, payments to individual beneficiaries, sending money to relatives abroad, paying insurance premiums or tuition, and creating automatic payments.