Parliament: Henderson says regulatory ECCU financial services Bill ‘late’ but necessary

Minister for Foreign Affairs, International Business, Trade and Energy, Dr. Vince Henderson, has commended the Minister of Finance, Dr. Irving McIntyre, and the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) for taking the Payment System and Services Bill 2026 to Parliament.

His comment came during the Third Session of the Eleventh Parliament on Monday.

The Payment System and Services Bill 2026 seeks to establish a comprehensive licensing and regulatory regime for payment service providers, expand oversight of the payment system, and strengthen consumer protections within the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union.

“This is late, but I am happy that it is here because we have seen the rise and perhaps the fall of our money transfers even here in Dominica, in [the] Eastern Caribbean. And consumers need protection,” he said. “ So I’m taking it from the angle of  regulating in order to protect  users, consumers  of services  provided, and in this case, to deal with your hard-earned money.”

He continued, “And I agree with the Prime Minister, we need to also facilitate, and as we move into a cashless society… we need to create these opportunities and to have them regulated.”

Dr. Henderson added, “ So I also want to take it from the angle that we need to promote the creation of money transfer systems, using of course point of sale transfers as well, allowing vendors, allowing small businesses  to be able to facilitate payments and to eliminate the fees and the charges from those well established money transfer systems and payment systems like Visa, MasterCard, American Express.”

Furthermore, he said, part of it is what needs to be created within that currency union.

“We need to create more opportunities for the creation of those services within the Eastern Caribbean, within that monetary union. so that we’re not just consumers of technology but creators,  innovators, and that we can create our own money transfer system, Mobanking for example, properly regulated but creating the opportunities and the atmosphere to have investors, international investors as well to come here but to create that service in Dominica, within the Eastern Caribbean, so that we can have more opportunities for people and expanding our Community,” he emphasized.

Moreover, he pointed out that this move by the ECCU is clearly an opportunity to expand the economic unions to ensure that the economic space can benefit from a well-regulated system of money transfer.

“But hopefully it will be again indigenous in nature so that more of the benefits, more of the profits, the payments for the services, can remain within the Eastern Caribbean  Currency Union,” he noted.

Meanwhile, Dr. Henderson stressed the importance of investing in energy.

“Because all of this is energy and reliable energy…,” he said. “ But it’s important that we have a reliable electricity system,  a reliable supply of power that will always ensure that we can benefit from these services. “

Dr. Henderson explained that one cannot have electronic transfer of funds without electricity.

“ You must have electricity, you must have power. And therefore, the investments that we’re making today, this is all part, and all of this, I’m saying this to say that all of these things are connected,” he stated. “All the investments that the state is making in all of these major projects are in one way or the other connected towards one main objective, which is improving the life of people of Dominica and creating more opportunities for our people.”