Growing interest in sandbox

The Financial Services Commission (FSC) is reporting continued interest in its regulatory sandbox.

In fact, Chief Executive Officer of the FSC Kester Guy told Barbados TODAY the regulatory body was currently reviewing one application while other companies have expressed interest. However, he declined to give further details.

“The sandbox regime continues to exist. We do have several entities that have expressed interest of various types. We do have before us now another actual application to be considered but because we are now in the initial stages of assessing the application I would not go further to disclose who it is or what type of business it is, but certainly, once the committee meets and make a determination as is customary we will provide all that information,” said Guy.

“So yes, we have extensive interest,” he added.

The sandbox, which was established towards the end of October last year, is a collaborative effort between the FSC and the Central Bank of Barbados.

A regulatory sandbox tests innovations for a specified period within a restricted space that protects both consumers and the financial system from risks and determines if the service, product or business model should be regulated by existing legislation, new legislation or if it should be regulated at all.

The popular financial technology firm Bitt was the first to take part in the eight-month regulatory sandbox framework with its mobile wallet, MMoney being the test subject.

In July this year, the Central Bank reported that the Regulatory Review Panel had indicated that Bitt was to be regulated under legislation that was being drafted.