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Minister in the Ministry of Finance, Ryan Straughn.

Digital IDs could be e-wallets: Straughn

WHEN issued to Barbadians, the new digital identification card may have the capability of acting as an e-wallet, disclosed Minister in the Ministry of Finance, Ryan Straughn.

“There are persons in this country today who do not have bank accounts and it is their right not to have a bank account if they so desire, but within the context of the digital ID, there will be a functionality that contemplates the creation of what effectively will be the digitisation of the currency. So the cash that you have in your pocket or that you are keeping at home, we will be capable, if you so desire, of being able to have a form of a digital account that is not linked to a bank account, but is the same way that you digitise in a real sense the cash you have in your pocket,” he said.

“That functionality is there where it is almost like an e-wallet where you have cash in your wallet and that wallet now becomes digital and that is contemplated under the new regulations,” he said.

Straughn was speaking yesterday as the Lower House held a cognate debate of the 2021 National Payment System and Bills of Exchange (Amendment) Bills.

He highlighted through this process, Government would be able to dispense benefits to citizens through the digital ID.

“Citizens will have options. So whether it is your pension, and you are still having this delivered as a cheque from the postman, the NIS could conceivably send you a notice that your pension has been deposited into the digital form of your ID. You can still determine if you want to go down to the Post Office, which will have whatever facilities available just like an ATM where you will go and tap your card, put in what information you want to put in and you will access your money,” he added. (JMB)

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