NASSAU, BAHAMAS — A regional banking executive said yesterday that The Bahamas has seen the strongest growth in digital banking usage in the region, noting that the number of non-cash transitions in the past six years has more than doubled.
David Hewick, RBC’s Senior Director of Payments, Digital and Automation spoke during a webinar hosted by the bank in partnership with the Oxford Business Group on the digital landscape.
He said: “The usage of digital banking has grown rapidly and steadily across the region but certainly the growth has been strongest in The Bahamas. More than half of our customers in The Bahamas use digital banking regularly. From 2017 to today for example, we now, we have seen that a significant majority of transactions have been non-cash. The number of transactions that are non-cash over that time has more than doubled for The Bahamas. We certainly see The Bahamas leading the pack in that regard.”
Central Bank Governor John Rolle noted that based on Central Bank surveys, 20-30 percent of customers still use cash for bill payments, while the use of cheques has declined steadily over the last half-decade.
Governor Rolle noted that The Bahamas needs to move towards greater usage of digital banking to ensure efficiency and lower costs in the financial system.
“Efficiency in the banking system and financial services sector is important because we need to focus and delivering financial services to the end consumer at a lower cost. Digital transformation also increases the avenue for boosting-financial inclusion in our country,” said Governor Rolle.
