New York City, 3rd June 2016 – Domus Semo Sancus (DSS) Chairman & CEO E. Jay Saunders, today attended the Seminar on Science, Technology, and Innovation for Sustainable Development, which took place in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, from the 1st – 3rd June. The seminar brought together key stakeholders from Government, regulators (from the financial, telecommunications, and ICT sectors), academia, entrepreneurs, mobile network operators, banks, financial service providers, mobile financial services platform providers, international organizations, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) involved in financial inclusion programmes, the media, and others to discuss the topic “exploring innovation in transactions and financing in the Caribbean”. During the seminar, Saunders presented on the topic and was part of the panel looking at the question “How do we find a balanced solution for the benefit of the Caribbean?”
Saunders’ presentation provided insights on the post 9/11 phenomenon of de-risking as a means of response to money laundering (ML) and terrorism financing (TF) risk. He touched on the fact that while certain Caribbean territories may have a high number of bank account holders and even payment card holders, that the Caribbean is experiencing an “e-commerce divide”, where Caribbean citizens’ access to certain content or purchases from international vendors are barred based on geographic association and a perceived collective risk of the Caribbean market as a whole.
Highlighting a need for financial regulators to find a balance between financial integrity and financial inclusion, Saunders called for international financial institutions (particularly those in the United States) to move away from the collective risk model currently being applied to the Caribbean region and to move to one where each country is assessed individually. “De-risking has the potential to economically destabilize the whole Caribbean and put tremendous hardship on those of us who are from the region, despite the fact that many Caribbean countries are not high-risk, and that’s why I’m calling on the global financial institutions, particularly those in the United States, to change their approach on this issue.” stated Saunders.
The seminar was attended by persons from Barbados, Dominica, Haiti, India, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, and the Turks and Caicos Islands. Saunders’ presentation can be viewed online in video format and as a Flipbook. Summary notes of the presentation can be found here.
About Domus Semo Sancus (DSS)
Domus Semo Sancus (DSS) Ltd, founded by E. Jay Saunders in November 2014, is a financial technology company that is building tools to encourage financial inclusion and bridge the e-commerce divide.
SafetyNet.ai is DSS’ award winning enhanced due diligence (EDD) cognitive search and crime prevention tool. It helps companies comply with KYC and AML rules and regulations by utilizing an artificial intelligence engine to help companies spot and mitigate risks before they become threats. SafetyNet.ai is cloud based and is offered in the following subscriptions: Lite, EDD (Enhanced Due Diligence), EDD Enterprise, Safe City, and Developer.
For more information on SafetyNet.ai, visit: www.safetynet.ai.
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