WITH an ambition to further transform the financial and payment landscape in the Caribbean, WiPay has announced the creation of a US neobank called ‘Colour Bank’ which will launch at the end of March, and in which WiPay Jamaica is one of the holding entities. Neobanks are financial institutions that give customers a cheaper alternative to traditional banks. You could think of them as digital banks without any physical branches, offering services that traditional banks don’t.

This is just one of Aldwyn Wayne’s latest moves to bring more Caribbean people in the region into the financial system with fewer hindrances and roadblocks. Wayne is the founder and chief executive officer of WiPay Caribbean, which is a payment processing company focused on serving the Caribbean. WiPay originated out of Trinidad and Tobago but relocated its headquarters to Kingston, Jamaica in June 2021.

“We had a five-year plan to grow the Caribbean and now, we are going to launch our neobank in the United States of America. In the US, there’s already neobank’s like Chime and Cashapp, but our neobank is going to be aimed towards the Caribbean and African diaspora population. You can now open a bank account in the USA with a passport and a proof of address without the need of a SSN [Social Security Number],” said Wayne in an interview with the Jamaica Observer.

Nubank, a Brazil-based neobank, went public on the New York Stock Exchange in December which valued the fledging business at US$45 billion. Nubank offers an international credit card, loans, life insurance and investments to various Latin American countries. Nubank has more than 38 million customers across the world.

Wayne explained that the Colour Bank is aimed at providing banking solutions to the Caribbean diaspora population, with services directly linked to the Caribbean. Apart from a free Mastercard, Colour Bank has already partnered with its US custodial banking partner which would provide Colour’s customers with an FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation) insured account and a debit Mastercard. Colour would also provide an NFT (non-fungible token) wallet. Colour is adding Caribbean partners across the US to bring value to its Miami-based operation.

“Colour’s integration into WiPay’s network across the Caribbean would allow a Caribbean university student in America to get a bank account and a debit card just with their passport and school address, with their parent’s loading it from Jamaica. We build things that the Caribbean people need,” said Wayne. Colour Bank is connected to the Caribbean through the WiPay network.