BARITA’S BIG BET

Barita Investments Limited is poised to enter Jamaica's competitive digital finance market after receiving the Bank of Jamaica's non-objection to roll out a digital-first banking platform. This strategic pivot marks a significant shift for parent company Cornerstone Financial Holdings, moving beyond a decade of acquisitions and regulatory development into the challenging arena of customer acquisition in the digital space.

The platform's initial customer-facing features will be a digital wallet and an accompanying Visa card. However, Cornerstone has not yet revealed a launch date, specific customer targets, or anticipated transaction volumes, leaving the pace of its expected market traction uncertain. This launch is the culmination of a long-term vision articulated by Founder and Group CEO Paul Simpson.

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From the outset, we were a technology company that owned a bank; and not the other way around.

Simpson emphasized that Cornerstone has always operated as a technology company that owns a bank, rather than the other way around. He stated that the acquisitions over the years, including transforming Barita Investments into Jamaica's largest securities dealer and acquiring JN Fund Managers (renamed Barita Fund Managers), were steps toward building a digitally-enabled integrated financial services ecosystem. The bank itself was never the ultimate goal, but rather a foundational component.

The company's technology focus is further evidenced by its recruitment of executives like Stefano D’Ambrosio, credited with developing Latin America's first mobile banking platform, and Ashish Mehta, who has held senior technology roles at Amazon and Adobe. This strategic direction also attracted support from the United States' Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), which approved funding for the initiative. The journey to this point began with an application to the Bank of Jamaica in early 2014, aiming to leverage technology for financial inclusion, though the approval process extended longer than initially anticipated.

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The vision was never limited to owning or operating a traditional banking institution. We viewed the banking platform as a foundational component of a much broader strategy aimed at building a digitally-enabled integrated financial services ecosystem.