Finance, Payments & MSME Capital
CARICOM FX Swap Network
A regional FX coordination layer that allows businesses and institutions to exchange currencies directly — without routing through USD. This system matches, nets, and settles currency flows across CARICOM participants in real time.
Flow Visibility
- AI identifies real-time currency demand across participants
- Example: BBD demand vs JMD supply
- Surfaces matching opportunities across the network
P2P FX Matching Engine
- Matches opposing currency needs directly
- Eliminates unnecessary external conversion
- Creates an internal regional FX market
Net Settlement Layer
- Aggregates transactions across multiple parties
- Settles only net obligations between institutions
- Reduces capital requirements and liquidity strain
Liquidity Pools
- Banks, fintechs, and institutions provide liquidity
- Dynamic spreads based on real supply and demand
- Incentivizes participation across the network
Smart Routing
- Determines the most efficient path for each transaction
- Prioritizes internal matching before external rails
Compliance + Controls
- KYC/AML checks integrated into flow
- AI assists with monitoring and reporting
- Full auditability and regulatory alignment
A hotel in Trinidad needs to pay a supplier in Jamaica.
Why This Matters
The Caribbean already has the liquidity. It just cannot see or coordinate it.
This system turns fragmented markets into a functioning regional FX network — unlocking trade, reducing costs, and enabling real economic integration.
The region becomes a live testbed for coordinated financial infrastructure, aligned with the broader goal of deploying real systems across fragmented markets.
Build Goal
Deliver a working prototype that demonstrates:
Build the system that removes USD as the default bridge for Caribbean trade.
The financial system is fragmented, slow, and exclusionary.
Payments between islands are expensive and inconsistent. Remittance flows are taxed by intermediaries. And MSMEs—the backbone of the economy—are locked out of credit.
Even strong businesses:
- Cannot access financing without collateral
- Are forced to use personal guarantees
- Operate without structured financial visibility
This is not a capital opportunity. It is a coordination and infrastructure opportunity.
The Caribbean does not operate as a unified financial system.
Payments, credit, and capital markets are siloed across jurisdictions. Data does not move. Capital does not reach execution.
This track focuses on building systems that:
- Connect fragmented financial infrastructure
- Unlock MSME access to capital
- Reduce friction across payments and credit
If these systems work here, they scale globally.
80–90% of Businesses Are MSMEs — and They Are Underfinanced
This is the most important opportunity in the region.
In developed markets, businesses are financed based on cash flow.
In the Caribbean: lending is collateral-based, credit access is restricted, and growth is constrained.
→ Entire categories of viable businesses never get funded.
The MSME Credit Layer
Build systems that enable cash-flow-based lending:
- Aggregate fragmented business data
- Generate real-time credit profiles
- Enable lending without collateral
- Support working capital and trade finance
- Integrate with lenders and financial institutions
This is the missing financial infrastructure layer.
What to build
Systems that disrupt, replace, or enable the financial infrastructure layer of the Caribbean:
1. Remittance & Payment Infrastructure
Stablecoin or blockchain rails reducing fees from ~8% → <1%. Cross-border payment routing optimization. Merchant payment systems across islands.
2. Mobile-First Banking Systems
Neobanks for underserved populations. Instant onboarding, no branches. Financial access across smaller islands.
3. MSME Credit & Underwriting Systems (CORE)
Alternative data credit scoring. Cash-flow-based lending models. Sector-specific underwriting (retail, medical, services).
4. Trade Finance & Working Capital Systems
Invoice financing. Supplier credit systems. Regional trade enablement tools.
5. RegTech & Compliance Infrastructure
Automated AML/KYC across jurisdictions. Cross-border compliance systems. Risk and transaction monitoring.
6. Diaspora Capital Platforms
Redirect remittances into investment. Match diaspora capital with businesses. Build investment rails, not just transfers.
What makes a strong solution
Solutions are evaluated on real-world impact:
- Works with fragmented, real-world data
- Reduces friction in actual transactions
- Enables lending where none exists today
- Integrates with existing financial institutions
- Delivers measurable improvements in capital flow
Measurable outcomes
- Payment fees drop materially
- Settlement approaches real-time
- MSMEs access credit without collateral
- Diaspora capital flows into investment
- Capital moves across the region efficiently
The system in detail
Teams should develop systems that address these components:
Aggregate Fragmented Business Data
Payments, invoices, bank activity, POS data, and accounting tools—unified into a coherent business profile.
Generate Real-Time Credit Profiles
Cash flow-based underwriting and sector-specific risk modeling for medical, retail, services, and more.
Enable Lending Without Collateral
Creditworthiness scoring for lenders and risk-adjusted loan structuring that replaces collateral-based models.
Support Working Capital & Trade Finance
Invoice financing, working capital optimization, and supplier credit systems for regional operators.
Integrate with Lenders & Financial Institutions
Banks and non-bank financial institutions via APIs or decision-support dashboards.
Real-world Caribbean conditions
Solutions must work within real-world Caribbean conditions—not ideal ones.
MSMEs are the backbone of the Caribbean economy
MSMEs are the backbone of the Caribbean economy—and they are underfinanced.
Fixing financial coordination unlocks:
- Business growth
- Job creation
- Regional trade
- Stronger capital markets
This is not incremental. This is foundational infrastructure.
The Caribbean is not short on capital.
It is short on systems that move capital efficiently.
Build the systems that move capital.
Data layer
Teams will work with real-world, publicly available datasets. The challenge is not access—it is coordination.
Relevant data includes:
Data may be sourced from multilateral institutions, central banks, and global financial datasets.
How AI works in this track
AI is not replacing the financial system. It is coordinating it.
Teams may build systems that:
- Optimize cross-border payment routing based on cost, speed, and reliability
- Generate creditworthiness from fragmented data sources
- Reduce remittance friction and improve capital allocation
- Connect diaspora capital to real opportunities
- Surface real-time financial signals across markets
- Support risk, compliance, and transaction monitoring
The goal is simple: make existing financial systems work as one.
The Standard
Strong teams
Build financial infrastructure.
Weak teams
Build apps.
The bar is simple: Does your system change outcomes?
- Lower transaction costs
- Faster settlement
- Expanded access to capital
- Increased regional capital flow
We are not looking for apps.
We are looking for systems that move capital.
Does your system change outcomes?
This is foundational infrastructure.
MSMEs are the backbone of the Caribbean economy—and they are underfinanced.
Fixing financial coordination unlocks:
- Business growth
- Job creation
- Regional trade
- Stronger capital markets