Is T&T Ready To Be Cashless?

[hover11]

This is the same country where you have to fill out forms for nearly everything , yall really think we going cashless soon. Yall have high hopes yes

Third world people selling theirselves dreams.

Let them continue sending their emails and documents via whatsapp numbers, uploading pictures etc…..

But still end up submitting paper forms and passport size photos.

Everytime u re-enter this country is a setta form you hadda complete, we not ready . Check us back 2050

[MaxPower]

Its the illiterate old heads who don’t want change.

Need to get rid of them.

[paid_influencer]

yup. the ppl clinging to cash will always be clinging to cash. they will never be ready.

we going to hold back the country for them?
keep crime escalating for them?
let black market and money laundering fester for them?

rowley need to grow some balls and go cashless NOW

[DMan7]

^Mister man, like I've told you before what do you think will happen when a criminal tries to rob someone and they said they don't have cash on them or don't find any cash on them? They will just leave peacefully? They going to get shot and likely killed in denying these criminals.

[paid_influencer]

that is why cashless only works as a country-wide decision. cash should not exist in the year of our lord 2025.

when they rob, what they going to do? transfer funds from your account to their account? which then going to be frozen and seized under all the explain your wealth, anti-gang and anti-money laundering laws passed?

all those laws are beautiful but cash has always been a loophole around them

time to plug that hole. plug it up deep.

all it takes is some balls. somebody to lead the country with balls

[ProtonPowder]

Going cashless has no place in a country where current could cut almost nationwide for 13 hours and the reason is "idk a tree fall down in debe lol"

Cashless is all about control and nothing else

[paid_influencer]

we need to get crime under control

[fokhan_96]

So does this mean you going to have to give your kid a credit card for school ?

[The_Honourable]

yup. the ppl clinging to cash will always be clinging to cash. they will never be ready.

we going to hold back the country for them?
keep crime escalating for them?
let black market and money laundering fester for them?

rowley need to grow some balls and go cashless NOW

We have a Ministry of Digital Transformation; you know the name of the minister? Don't bother googling because the answer is NO... and nobody else in T&T knows either.

Most ministries don't have basic Linx or their linx machine stop working.

Banks closing branches and not allowing some transactions over the counter yet not expanding their ATM network to handle the increased customer usage so there are more incidences of lines.

If your bank account was erroneously frozen, investigations by the bank can take months or over a year to resolve.

How do we treat with data breaches? Look at TSTT last year for example. Under normal circumstances they would have been fined and forced to reach settlements with affected customers. So far they getting a bligh.

The local banks themselves are protectionist against newer forms of technology that first world countries already adopted. Study it took us nearly two decades for scotia and fcb to change to smart ATMs... to count cash without an envelope and instantly credit your account. Republic and RBC still with envelope and a business day.

Imagine you still have to go in the bank to wire transfer US dollars out of T&T. That should be done online over a decade ago.

Several laws, policies and procedures need to be in place before we go cashless, especially to protect the customer. Then we have to update our infrastructure to facilitate thousands of transactions or more per second.

The government and the banks who still far need to get their house in order before going cashless... but you want rowley to go cashless NOW?

I feel you on crack

[paid_influencer]

importantly, all those problems have relatively quick and easy solutions. they just need some push by the government and an associated kick in the rear of the private sector by the regulator. it just needs political will, or as I call it, balls.

waiting does nothing but make those problems worse.

i will say it again in case anybody went to the fridge and now coming back

waiting does nothing but make those problems worse.

and all those teething issues are preferable problems to the crime problem we have now. action on crime cannot wait and this is a big, big one to solving crime on the island

[The_Honourable]

Best you go by the fridge because you fail to realize this is Trinidad... it not happening anytime soon until we are mandated to do so from outside forces if we want to remain part of the global financial system.

Check back this ched next 10 years or so and maybe we made some progress.

[paid_influencer]

it still have December.

Rowley still have December. He did it in 2019 he can do it again

what happened to his balls

[The_Honourable]

December is Christmas

Cashless in december... is crack cocaine you on

[paid_influencer]

again this is nothing groundbreaking. we demonetised the $100 note in 2019.

Christmas is when there is the highest turnover of currency notes at the banks. If you going to do it, now is the time.

Rowley has been talking about cashless since 2020. That was 5 years ago. Once you recognize how valuable this tool is in the fight against crime, why delay? what makes the delay worthwhile?

[The_Honourable]

We didn't demonetize all cash, just the $100 cotton notes where new $100 polymer notes were introduced into the system. All other denominations were switched out across time. Plans were already in place for the demonetization of $100 cotton notes to take place. Rowley and the Central Bank didn't print the new polymer notes during a weekend and distributed it the monday.

Politicians talk about a lot of things and then take decades to implement. What has the Minsitry of Digital Transformation done over the last 4 years? Introducing wifi in public areas? That should have been done 10+ years ago by bmobile/TSTT.

Cashless has its advantages such as your point in the fight against crime. What i'm trying to tell you for the longest while is that the systems to implement such at the moment are insufficient. Once the systems are modernized and in place, legislation must also be in place to protect the consumer. Imagine you go cashless, bank freeze your account because of a misunderstanding yet the same bank still taking months if not a year to investigate your account and come to a decision? What will you do in the meantime? make noise on tuner about the banks and capitalism?

Everybody including Rowley knows that systems and legislation must be in place but you want cashless in december.

Stop being delusional.

[timelapse]

If Trinidad goes cashless, get ready for total abuse of power soon.Cashless means that your assets can be frozen at any time for any dotish reason they see fit. John Conner would not approve

[paid_influencer]

What i'm trying to tell you for the longest while is that the systems to implement such at the moment are insufficient.

They are sufficient. Many people on the island are already cashless. People on the island going to wake up today and live a 100% cash free existence just as they have done for years already now.

Cash is a drain on the system. Imagine if bank workers never had to deal with deposits or withdrawals. Those workers would be free to deal with other more important tasks like setting up customer accounts. Same with ATMs.

This past Saturday I pass through Gulf City. You know they have an ANSA bank in gulf city? I walk in and the workers, dressed in suit and tie, looked at me, and I looked back at this, because the place empty. Bank workers setting there 100% ready to make you cashless, today. The systems are there, just not being used.

Once the systems are modernized and in place, legislation must also be in place to protect the consumer. Imagine you go cashless, bank freeze your account because of a misunderstanding yet the same bank still taking months if not a year to investigate your account and come to a decision? What will you do in the meantime? make noise on tuner about the banks and capitalism?

Many, many people on the island are already cashless and this has never been an issue.

[MaxPower]

we need to get crime under control

Correct.

We need foreign assistance.

We can start with the presence of a foreign army. Criminals can’t whatsapp them.

[zoom rader]

we need to get crime under control

Correct.

We need foreign assistance.

We can start with the presence of a foreign army. Criminals can’t whatsapp them.

We had foreign assistance and PNM ran them out.

Remember the Scott drug report ?

[timelapse]

Some points to ponder:
Sweden and Norway are backpedalling on plans for cashless societies over fears that fully digital payment systems would leave them vulnerable to Russian security threats, and concern for those unable to use them.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/oct/30/sweden-and-norway-rethink-cashless-society-plans-over-russia-security-fears Full Article here on security concerns

Then there are these points to also consider: https://www.aclu.org/news/privacy-technology/say-no-cashless-future-and-cashless-stores
Bad for privacy. When you pay cash, there is no middleman; you pay, you receive goods or services — end of story. When a middleman becomes part of the transaction, that middleman often gets to learn about the transaction — and under our weak privacy laws, has a lot of leeway to use that information as it sees fit. (Cash transactions of more than $10,000 must be reported to the government, however.) More on privacy and payment systems in a follow-up post.
Bad for low-income communities. Participation in a cashless society presumes a level of financial stability and enmeshment in bureaucratic financial systems that many people simply do not possess. Opening a bank account requires an ID, which many poor and elderly people lack, as well as other documents such as a utility bill or other proof of address, which the homeless lack, and which generally create bureaucratic barriers to participating in electronic payment networks. Banks also charge fees that can be significant for people living on the economic margins. According to government data from 2017, about one in 15 U.S. households (6.5%) were “unbanked” (had no checking or savings account), while almost one in five (18.7%) were “underbanked” (had a bank account but resorted to using money orders, check cashing, or payday loans). Finally, because merchants usually pass along the cost of credit card fees to all their customers through their prices, the current credit card system effectively serves to transfer money from poor households to high-income households, according to a study by the Federal Reserve.
Bad for people of color. The burden of lack of access to banking services such as credit cards does not fall equally. While 84% of white people in 2017 were what the Federal Reserve calls “fully banked,” only 52% of Black and 63% of Hispanic people were.
Bad for the undocumented. Facing a lack of official identity documents, not to mention all the other obstacles mentioned above, undocumented immigrants can have an even harder time accessing banking services.
Bad for many merchants. Merchants pay roughly 2-3% of every transaction to the credit card companies, which can be a significant “tax,” especially on low-margin businesses. With the credit card sector dominated by an oligopoly of 2-3 companies, there is not enough competition to keep these “swipe fees” low. Big companies have the leverage to negotiate lower fees, but small merchants are out of luck, and the amount that they pay to the credit card companies is often greater than their profit. If cashless stores are allowed to become widespread, that will harm the many merchants who either discourage or flat-out refuse to accept credit cards due to these fees.
Less resilient. The nationwide outage of electronic cash registers at Target stores several weeks ago left customers unable to make purchases — except those who had cash. That’s a reminder that electronic payments systems can mean centralized points of failure — not just technical failures like Target’s, but also security failures. A cashless society would also leave people more susceptible to economic failure on an individual basis: if a hacker, bureaucratic error, or natural disaster shuts a consumer out of their account, the lack of a cash option would leave them few alternatives.

[zoom rader]

Good infor ^^^

[The_Honourable]

What i'm trying to tell you for the longest while is that the systems to implement such at the moment are insufficient.

They are sufficient. Many people on the island are already cashless. People on the island going to wake up today and live a 100% cash free existence just as they have done for years already now.

Cash is a drain on the system. Imagine if bank workers never had to deal with deposits or withdrawals. Those workers would be free to deal with other more important tasks like setting up customer accounts. Same with ATMs.

This past Saturday I pass through Gulf City. You know they have an ANSA bank in gulf city? I walk in and the workers, dressed in suit and tie, looked at me, and I looked back at this, because the place empty. Bank workers setting there 100% ready to make you cashless, today. The systems are there, just not being used.

Once the systems are modernized and in place, legislation must also be in place to protect the consumer. Imagine you go cashless, bank freeze your account because of a misunderstanding yet the same bank still taking months if not a year to investigate your account and come to a decision? What will you do in the meantime? make noise on tuner about the banks and capitalism?

Many, many people on the island are already cashless and this has never been an issue.

We are not ready to go cashless as yet, and I already fedup telling you why. We still have some work to do before we get there, stop fooling yourself.

Most of the banking population use one of the four main banks but you telling me about ANSA bank. Are the four main banks moving towards cashless? again, what the Ministry of Digital Transformation doing?

You want to claim the issues are "easy " fixes. No they are not. It takes time, money, political will and education before we are ready to be a cashless society.

[The_Honourable]

Some points to ponder:
Sweden and Norway are backpedalling on plans for cashless societies over fears that fully digital payment systems would leave them vulnerable to Russian security threats, and concern for those unable to use them.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/oct/30/sweden-and-norway-rethink-cashless-society-plans-over-russia-security-fears Full Article here on security concerns

Then there are these points to also consider: https://www.aclu.org/news/privacy-technology/say-no-cashless-future-and-cashless-stores
Bad for privacy. When you pay cash, there is no middleman; you pay, you receive goods or services — end of story. When a middleman becomes part of the transaction, that middleman often gets to learn about the transaction — and under our weak privacy laws, has a lot of leeway to use that information as it sees fit. (Cash transactions of more than $10,000 must be reported to the government, however.) More on privacy and payment systems in a follow-up post.
Bad for low-income communities. Participation in a cashless society presumes a level of financial stability and enmeshment in bureaucratic financial systems that many people simply do not possess. Opening a bank account requires an ID, which many poor and elderly people lack, as well as other documents such as a utility bill or other proof of address, which the homeless lack, and which generally create bureaucratic barriers to participating in electronic payment networks. Banks also charge fees that can be significant for people living on the economic margins. According to government data from 2017, about one in 15 U.S. households (6.5%) were “unbanked” (had no checking or savings account), while almost one in five (18.7%) were “underbanked” (had a bank account but resorted to using money orders, check cashing, or payday loans). Finally, because merchants usually pass along the cost of credit card fees to all their customers through their prices, the current credit card system effectively serves to transfer money from poor households to high-income households, according to a study by the Federal Reserve.
Bad for people of color. The burden of lack of access to banking services such as credit cards does not fall equally. While 84% of white people in 2017 were what the Federal Reserve calls “fully banked,” only 52% of Black and 63% of Hispanic people were.
Bad for the undocumented. Facing a lack of official identity documents, not to mention all the other obstacles mentioned above, undocumented immigrants can have an even harder time accessing banking services.
Bad for many merchants. Merchants pay roughly 2-3% of every transaction to the credit card companies, which can be a significant “tax,” especially on low-margin businesses. With the credit card sector dominated by an oligopoly of 2-3 companies, there is not enough competition to keep these “swipe fees” low. Big companies have the leverage to negotiate lower fees, but small merchants are out of luck, and the amount that they pay to the credit card companies is often greater than their profit. If cashless stores are allowed to become widespread, that will harm the many merchants who either discourage or flat-out refuse to accept credit cards due to these fees.
Less resilient. The nationwide outage of electronic cash registers at Target stores several weeks ago left customers unable to make purchases — except those who had cash. That’s a reminder that electronic payments systems can mean centralized points of failure — not just technical failures like Target’s, but also security failures. A cashless society would also leave people more susceptible to economic failure on an individual basis: if a hacker, bureaucratic error, or natural disaster shuts a consumer out of their account, the lack of a cash option would leave them few alternatives.

Thank you for this.

We can learn from other countries about the problems they encountered and take them into consideration before implementing it here in T&T.

But paid_influencer wants cashless in december... CRACK COCAINE

[j.o.e]

We need to make cashless more widespread not necessarily make mandatory. I personally would embrace cashless.
The only thing I really pay for cash is the barber.
Or the odd time I eat a gyro or doubles (hardly ever)

[zoom rader]

We need to make cashless more widespread not necessarily make mandatory. I personally would embrace cashless.
The only thing I really pay for cash is the barber.
Or the odd time I eat a gyro or doubles (hardly ever)

You full of it as usual

https://www.weforum.org/stories/2019/05 ... est-price/

[hover11]

CASH IS KING

[paid_influencer]

the lesson is that the supermarket that does millions in sales a week

should have a backup internet connection and redundant systems in place

that was a failure by the supermarket, regardless or cash or cashless

[88sins]

T&T? Cashless? Ready?

Lemme put it this way
A few people are, the vast majority are NOT. And that brings quite a few issues to the forefront. But to simplify..

Gotta understand, there are 3 economies in T&T
1-the formal economy as toolumhead and Impinbottom know it
2-the narco-economy they pretend to fight
3-the informal shadow economy, that literally keeps a VERY SIGNIFICANT section of society's economic activity afloat and moving


Be advised, for those who don't know.
The narco and shadow economies are connected, but they are NOT the same.

[hover11]

There is a substantial number of people in this country that don't possess a bank account and cannot possess a bank account due the requirements imposed by the oligarchy. How ppl really want us to go cashless boi?

[j.o.e]

the lesson is that the supermarket that does millions in sales a week

should have a backup internet connection and redundant systems in place

that was a failure by the supermarket, regardless or cash or cashless

Exactly