Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago – Monday 19th December, 2022: The TTIFC, the organisation in charge of promoting the use of digital payments throughout the government, has put the Minister of Finance’s “cashless” public sector vision into motion beginning with the Housing Development Corporation of Trinidad and Tobago (HDC) as the first officially recognised government corporation to provide customers with cashless payment options for both the banked and unbanked.
“This is a very important milestone for the TTIFC as we seek to push cashless payments to all of the government. We have been working tirelessly behind the scenes with other critical stakeholders, such as the Treasury Division of the Ministry of Finance, the Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago, the Trinidad and Tobago Cyber Security Incident Response Team, and other ministries, departments, and agencies that are all well-advanced in their implementations, to ensure that the benefits of digital payments reach the greatest number of citizens. The HDC is a good place to start in this respect, as they have a growing customer base of over 20,000 citizens who will now have the added benefit of multiple safe, secure, and convenient payment options for one of the most valuable assets that any of us can own – a place to call home.” said TTIFC CEO, John Outridge at the onboarding at HDC’s head office in Port of Spain on Monday.
A state agency of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, the HDC will be the first to utilise government cashless payments platform to offer HDC customers a new option to manage their payments for License to Occupy and/or Rent-to-Own services through online payment channels facilitated by TSTT as well as the country’s first e-Money Issuer (EMI), PayWise and other payment service providers across Trinidad and Tobago, such as SurePay, with more convenient options to follow in the near future.
HDC’s Managing Director, Ms. Jayselle McFarlane, stated, “This partnership between the HDC and TTIFC is the perfect addition to our ‘More Ways to Pay’ initiatives as the HDC continues to fulfil our mandate of providing affordable housing and exploring new opportunities to provide our customers with the right mix of services and tools to help them to protect and maintain their homeownership status.”
The HDC will also collaborate closely with TTIFC to raise awareness of the benefits of digital payment solutions among residents and renters in different HDC communities and to encourage them to adopt these solutions to make on-time rent or mortgage payments.
Citizens will benefit greatly as we integrate electronic funds transfer (EFT) payments and other digital payment methods across the public sector, according to Ms. Dawn Nelson, Vice President of Financial Services Transformation at TTIFC. “The Licensing Division of the Ministry of Works and Transport, the Immigration Division, the Judiciary, and the Ministry of Trade and Industry are some of the government ministries, departments, and agencies with which we have been strategically and closely collaborating with. These organisations deliver some of the most critical services and are responsible for processing the largest volumes of payments. These are just a few of the government agencies with whom we are currently working, which will soon be part of the cashless platform and provide safety, security, and convenience to the citizens of Trinidad and Tobago when doing business online with the state.
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About the Trinidad & Tobago International Financial Centre (T&T IFC):
The TTIFC is the state agency charged with the development of the Financial Services Sector. It is the lead Agency under the Ministry of Finance for driving the adoption of digital payments across the Government and the financial services sector as the country pursues its goal of becoming a ‘Cashless Society’ and a FinTech-enabled Financial Services Hub.
Vision: To be the driver of digital financial services adoption across all sectors leading Trinidad and Tobago in becoming the regional premier location for FinTech-enabled services.
Visit the T&T IFC’s website for more information: www.ttifc.co.tt
For media enquiries please contact:
Kamilah Evans, Manager, Stakeholder Relations & Communications.
M: (868) 689-6427 | E: kamilah.evans@ttifc.co.tt