The Department of Social Services held two days of meetings on Wednesday and Thursday, November 19th to 20th, 2014 to brief stakeholders on the mechanics of its Pilot Prepaid Card Social Services Programme. The programme will replace food vouchers with prepaid VISA cards issued by Bank of The Bahamas Limited, and is set to launch on Friday, November 28th, 2014 with 638 clients from the Department's Wulff Road Centre.

"We are about to revolutionize the way we make payments, to make it easier and make the burden lighter,” said The Hon. Melanie Griffith, Minister of Social Services. “The cards are already in hand and we go live next Friday,” she said.

Representatives from Bank of The Bahamas Limited and VISA were on hand to discuss their roles as partners in the new program as well as potential benefits for the various stakeholder groups that include Social Services staff, merchants and beneficiaries.

Renee Davis, Deputy Managing Director of Bank of The Bahamas Limited said BOB is pleased to support the Department’s new Prepaid card initiative by providing a platform for the processing of the prepaid Visa card transactions. She explained that Social Services has designed the programme with restrictions to ensure that the Prepaid Cards can only be used to purchase food from local grocery stores and wholesalers.

“The cards will not work online, at ATMs, or any establishment that is not a Food Store. The Cards can only be used in the Commonwealth of The Bahamas. ” Mrs. Davis said.

Addressing the merchants, she said the new method of payment offers opportunities for increased sales but may require the installation of more credit card terminals to provide a customer-friendly experience. She also noted that the switch to electronic payments will ensure that merchants receive payment for goods purchased through Social Services faster than ever before because their accounts will be credited within 24-48 hours of a transaction. All transactions will be processed through VISA’s VISANET, one of the world’s most advanced processing networks.

Speaking on behalf of VISA, Lorna Atiles, Sr. Business Development Leader for Caribbean Countries explained that electronification of Government payments is a growing trend worldwide as Governments try to do more with less resources. She said the e-payments provide for greater efficiency, transparency and accountability in Social Services programmes and offer benefits for stakeholders including increased sales for merchants and convenience for beneficiaries.

Ms. Atiles shared a case study of Social Services reform in the Dominican Republic, where electronification of social services subsidies was launched in 2005 featuring the VISA Solidaridad Card. Since then she said the programme has effectively distributed more than US $1.5 billion to nearly one million beneficiaries as of July 2014, ensuring that the poorest of the population receive benefits.

The Bahamas Prepaid Card Social Services programme launches on Friday, November 28, 2014.

Photo Caption

BOB PRESENTS PREPAID CARD – Renee Davis, Deputy Managing Director of BOB presents a sample Prepaid card to Melanie Griffith, Minister of Social Services at a recent meeting to brief merchants on the Department of Social Services Prepaid Card pilot programme. Pictured above from left to right: Barbara Burrows, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Social Services; Lorna Atiles, Sr. Business Development Leader, Carribbean, VISA; Renee Davis, BOB; The Hon. Melanie Griffith, Minister of Social Services; Sofia Antor, Business Development Leader, Caribbean Countries, VISA; Brenda Dean, AML Foods; Sabrina Wilchcombe, AML foods, and Michaela Tynes, Super Value.