Government rolling out new national payment service

Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Trade, Investment and Tourism Dr Colin Neil Gosine, left, uses a bank card to demonstrate how a purchase is done using the payment during the launch of the National Payment and Innovation Company at Tower D, Wrightson Road, Port of Spain, August 15. Looking on are National Payment and Innovation Company CEO John Outridge, Minister of Planning, Economic Affairs and Development Kennedy Swaratsingh, and chairman of the National Lotteries Control Board Ken Emrith. - Photo by Ayanna Kinsale

THE TT International Financial Centre (TTIFC) has been rebranded as the National Payment and Innovation Company of TT (NPICTT), which is rolling out a national integrated payment system for government services.

Partnering with the National Lotteries Control Board (NLCB), the system will facilitate card and cash payments for all types of government-related services, including taxes, at NLCB terminals and an online portal.

Planning, Economic Affairs and Development Minister Dr Kennedy Swaratsingh said the development of the system is a fulfillment of the promise made in the UNC manifesto.

“As we move onto this new phase of our delivery programme, we are doing things where people are going to see some direct input into the way in which they engage and access government goods and services.

“My colleagues in transport would have talked about new initiatives where you can access online payments and this becomes the portal to do that.”

NPICTT CEO John Outridge said next week the system will be rolled out in the Works Ministry’s licensing division.

“TT is a very mature economy and has a very robust financial services sector. What those require, and what the minister has been able to do, is centralise all of that activity into one agency.

“So it’s no longer going to be one agency co-ordinating and another implementing, everything happens in one shop. So you can expect to see very quick succession going forward.”

He said more technical details will be revealed soon.

“Expect to see a different landscape particularly for the local financial technology sector, MSMEs and the unbanked who would have been excluded from the system…what you will find happening is that a lot more people will be included in the system.”

Swaratsingh said the next step for the NPICTT will be to develop a digital Know Your Customer (KYC) system and have discussions with financial institutions. Although unable to give a timeline for the rollout of the system, Swaratsingh said the government is actively working on setting up legal framework to support it.

The digital KYC system is meant to facilitate online identity verification to allow for more seamless access to financial services.

“Part of why all of this is important as well is that we have to look at the ease of doing business. And that’s something that when we would have met with international agencies, everybody’s alluding to the fact that we need to modernise.

“All of this will help with the efficiency of collecting government payments and also with the ease of people engaging with business.”