Credit Card Processing
From "Red Tape Reduction Consultation"
Go to the project
The barrier to entry for credit card machines is too high. To get a machine for a small business for, say, a market or Harbour night scenario requires a merchant bank account, which requires vetting, and fees. Then you need to have $500 in the merchant account to apply for a machine and none of this includes the fees associated with every transaction (which is to be expected). In the states, within half an hour you can sign up for a credit card accepting device, connect it with your bank account or even be offered a debit card which all charges will be debited to - available for your immediate use on the given card... All within half an hour.
This same process can be connected with your website so seemlessly. None of these conveniences work in Bermuda - Square, Venmo, Zelle etc. So compare that process to Bermuda where even if you have a credit card machine, that doesn't mean you can accept cards on your website because you have to work through a third party who also requires you to have a merchant bank account to be able to accept payments which are then debited to your bank account.
Happily, one can accept PayPal on a website but have fun trying to get PayPal to connect to your Bermuda bank account - it won't. So you just get to use PayPal credit on all your online overseas purchases, how neat is that? Oh right, not at all neat. If I want to use the money on island, I can't.
There are clearly easier ways to allow small businesses to accept payments and provide a convenience to their customers, but Bermuda, as usual, despite being an epicenter for international business, is behind the times and the government has done nothing, despite years of throne speeches saying they would, to lower banking fees or make it easier for entrepreneurs and small businesses to grow their sales and customer base because of a lack of convenience - the ability to accept credit card payments and receive that money in our bank accounts.
Remove this high barrier of entry of $500 for a merchant account. Force banks to connect with globally used and established credit card processing applications. Allow us to use applications like Venmo or Zelle. Make it easy to do business in Bermuda at a standard we can be proud of - or at least one that matches the rest of the world.