NASSAU, BAHAMAS — A Bahamian digital payments solutions provider expressed satisfaction in being able to “bridge the gap” for users and merchants on its platform, ensuring transactions remained unaffected despite global IT issues impacting local point-of-sale transactions.
A software update linked to a product from CrowdStrike, a global cybersecurity firm, appeared to have caused disruptions, grounding flights, interrupting broadcasts, and affecting essential services like banking and healthcare. Locally, card payment services and some bank ATM services were impacted affecting commerce at places such as food stores and service stations.
Keith Davies, Kanoo’s CEO, told Eyewitness News: “These things will happen. It’s not a matter of if but when. In this instance, the banks were affected not because of what they did but what someone else did. All across the country, businesses were putting up signs saying their credit card machines weren’t working. We got reports from our merchants expressing relief that Kanoo transactions were not affected. Our merchants were telling people to use Kanoo because they could transact and their funds could move. We’re a digital wallet. Our users’ funds are outside of the banking system, so they can transact through our network, which was unaffected.”
Davies continued: “It was good that we were able to meet the needs of some of the merchants. Super Value even published a notice indicating that if you needed to withdraw, use Kanoo and you could withdraw up to $250. People were doing that, and it provided an alternative.”
The Central Bank of The Bahamas, in a statement on Friday, noted that it was aware that banking services in The Bahamas have been impacted, to varying degrees, due to the CrowdStrike issues causing major IT outages globally, as widely publicized in the international media earlier today. It added that it was in close contact with the local banking institutions, which are identifying and working through any impacted services.
“Nonetheless, except for some card payment services, retail banking services remain generally available to the public. Should you encounter issues with accessing services, please contact your respective retail banking institution,” the regulator stated.
Dr. Leo Rolle, Chief Executive Officer of the Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employers Confederation, commenting on the issue, told Eyewitness News: “We have had members reaching out to express concerns over the same. Obviously, in the age of technology where we stress the importance of digital transformation, impacts such as these hinder the technological advancement and ease of doing business that we have been working to promote. We have encouraged our members to revert to manual receipts/transactions and e-transfers where possible in light of POS and credit card charging malfunctions. We are particularly concerned with governmental offices and their platforms; for instance, DIR’s payment portal has also malfunctioned as a result of the outage. Just as our members are encouraged to revert given the circumstances, we call on government agencies to exercise leniency and enact contingency plans in the wake of this crisis.”
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