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Montserrat Progresses Towards a Digital Financial Ecosystem

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Montserrat Progresses Towards a Digital Financial Ecosystem Montserrat Progresses Towards a Digital Financial Ecosystem Background In February 2018, the Government of Montserrat (GOM) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Bitt to create a digital payments ecosystem in Montserrat. The goal is to achieve universal financial inclusion and to progress towards reducing cash usage and becoming a digital payments society. Both objectives are parts of the overall development strategy of Montserrat and the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB). On February 21st 2019, the ECCB and Bitt signed a contract to conduct a central bank digital ​ ​ currency (CBDC) pilot within the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU). This ECCB CBDC pilot is the first of its kind on the blockchain and will involve a securely minted and issued digital version of the EC dollar (DXCD). The countries included in the pilot are St. Kitts and Nevis, Grenada, St. Lucia and Antigua and Barbuda. The DXCD will be distributed and used by licensed financial institutions and non-bank financial institutions in the ECCU. The DXCD will be used for financial transactions between consumers and merchants, including peer-to-peer transactions, all using smart devices. For example, an individual in St Kitts and Nevis will be able to send DXCD funds securely from his/her smartphone to a friend or a business in Grenada in seconds - and at no cost to either party. Governor of the ECCB, Timothy N. J. Antoine, emphasised that, in contrast to previous CBDC ​ research and experiments, the ECCB is going a step further. “This is not an academic exercise. ​ ​ ​ ​ Not only will the digital EC dollar be the world’s first digital legal tender currency to be issued by a central bank on blockchain, but this pilot is also a live CBDC deployment with a view to an eventual phased public rollout. The pilot is part of the ECCB’s Strategic Plan 2017-2021 which ​ ​ aims to help reduce cash usage within the ECCU by 50 per cent, promote greater financial sector stability, and expedite the growth and development of our member countries. It would be a game-changer for the way we do business”. CEO of Bitt Inc. Rawdon Adams said, “I thank the ECCB for choosing Bitt. Our mission is the practical application of cutting edge technology to solve persistent financial problems. It is about enhancing a successful currency union by building on the ECCB’s impressive record of financial stability, development and integration to deliver a quantum improvement to the lives of all the ECCU’s 630,000 citizens. Enhancing economic growth and the quality of life of ordinary people is the aim.” The ECCB is now poised to embark on the DXCD pilot from March 2019. The pilot will be executed in two phases: development and testing, for about twelve months, followed by rollout and implementation in pilot countries for about six months. As part of pilot implementation, the ECCB will ramp up its sensitisation and education initiatives to facilitate active public engagement throughout all member countries. Montserrat and Bitt Further to the MOU signed with Bitt in February 2018, the Government of Montserrat is inviting the public to participate in a progressive initiative aimed at boosting financial inclusion and improving the ease of doing business in Montserrat and across the Eastern Caribbean. This initiative is both historic and essential to the future socio-economic wellbeing of the people of Montserrat. As Premier Romeo announced, upon signing the MOU, "The people of Montserrat will benefit from increased financial inclusion, and a significant reduction in their need for cash to make payments for goods and services, or as a means of saving. Anyone with a smartphone, tablet or computer, will now be able to conduct these domestic transactions securely, efficiently, and, digitally." “The decision to move closer to a cashless society is in keeping with Montserrat’s and the ECCB’s overall development strategy to reduce cash usage by 50% in the ECCU,” explained Premier Romeo. “Montserrat, and indeed the wider Caribbean, has a renewed focus on building resilience and securing sustainability. Indeed, creating a modern, digital financial ecosystem, is a key element of this drive to #BuildBackBetter. Though we are small, we are by no means insignificant. The people of Montserrat are proud to be raising the bar, taking the lead, and setting the example, with this groundbreaking initiative,” he added. While highlighting the importance of creating a digital payments ecosystem in Montserrat, Premier Romeo added that, "The use of cash, as we all know, has risks and costs associated with it. It costs money to print money, and saving cash ‘under the mattress’ and walking around with cash can be risky." He further stated that “...the need for cash for everyday transactions like purchases, or sending money locally to your loved ones, would be eliminated, as you would be able to use Bitt’s mMoney mobile wallet for free peer-to-peer transfers of money using your smartphone, tablet or computer." The digital payments ecosystem, once implemented, will include a number of free services. Consumers need only to download Bitt’s free mMoney mobile wallet app from Google Playstore and Apple Appstore to access the free services including: sending money to loved ones locally or within the ECCU, paying for goods and services, and adding funds to their wallet, and cashing-out of the wallet at participating merchant/tellers. Over the past year, Bitt has been working with the Government of Montserrat and other domestic stakeholders, such as the private sector, commercial banks, and the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB), to create a digital payments ecosystem in Montserrat. The Next Steps for Montserrat The Government of Montserrat is inviting members of the public service to volunteer to participate in this important pilot rollout of Bitt’s mMoney solution in Montserrat. The pilot rollout will be conducted as follows: 1. In this initial phase, eligible Government employees are invited to volunteer to have a portion of their salaries - XCD100 - sent directly to their mMoney mobile wallets on their smartphones, at no cost to them. 2. These volunteers would be asked to indicate their desire to participate in the pilot, to the Treasury Dept. 3. These volunteers would then be contacted by a Bitt representative to facilitate the onboarding process of the mMoney digital wallet on their smartphone. 4. The funds will be sent to their mMoney wallet as agreed, and the volunteers would then be able to use the XCD100 on their mMoney wallet at various Merchants across Montserrat (specific Merchants to be announced). Bitt and the Government of Montserrat will monitor the progress of the pilot and make a determination in a few months, as to whether to expand the pilot to include more wallet users and merchants. This is an opportunity to be part of a pilot, which is the first of its kind globally, at no cost and no risk to the users. There is no cost to receive a portion of your salary on your mMoney wallet, no cost to pay a Merchant for goods using mMoney, no cost to send money to another EC dollar mMoney wallet holder, and no cost to cash-out at an mMoney Merchant Teller. Please reach out to Treasury Department, E. Karney Osborne Building, Little Bay – Tel 491-2663/2454 or Email [email protected] to indicate your desire to participate in the Pilot. ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Who is Bitt ? Bitt is a Financial Technology (FinTech) company that specialises in the development, customisation, and integration of secure financial technology solutions, including advanced databases, website, and mobile applications. Its mission is to boost financial inclusion, and improve the security and efficiency of financial transactions by using (central bank) digital currency in its mobile payments solutions. Bitt is headquartered in Barbados, where it employs approximately 50 team members, roughly half of whom are software developers. Since 2014, Bitt has been committed to providing financial technology solutions to support financial inclusion, growth, and socio-economic development in the Caribbean. Bitt uses distributed ledger and blockchain technology to facilitate digital payments on mobile applications, the issuance of digital fiat currency or CBDC, and eventually, the introduction of the Caribbean Settlement Network - a regional CBDC-based cross-border trade and remittance settlement system for the Caribbean, which eliminates the need to use USD and correspondent banks for intra-regional transaction settlement. The Bitt Solution Software Stack Bitt’s products provide a full service stack that allows for digital, secure payments to take place throughout the financial system. This means from digital currency issuance, all the way down to consumer and merchant digital transactions. Below is a graphic illustrating the different levels in financial services Bitt serves and the products associated with each. It is important to note, as will be further explained that the ECCB pilot and the Montserrat Project are two separate and distinct initiatives. As noted in the graphic below, the pilot with the ECCB is focused on the first layer of the Bitt stack - namely currency issuance. The Montserrat Project deals with the third layer focusing on the usage by consumers and merchants. More information on both initiatives will be discussed in the subsequent sections. The ECCB Pilot to Issue a Digital EC Dollar (DXCD) The ECCB has agreed to conduct a pilot project to digitise the EC dollar through Bitt’s Software Stack. This pilot commenced in March 2019 and is set to last a duration of 18 months. The purpose of the pilot is to demonstrate the capability and benefits of utilising digital payment systems. The ECCB is taking all necessary precautions to maintain the personal data security of the public during this pilot project.
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