Gumbs: New payment service law could help open door to PayPal, Revolut and others, Irion pushes local solution

GREAT BAY--Minister of Finance Marinka Gumbs told Parliament that St. Maarten’s ability to attract international digital payment platforms such as PayPal, Revolut and other fintech providers depends heavily on the country first putting a proper licensing and supervisory framework in place.

The Minister made the statement while responding to questions from Members of Parliament during the handling of several draft national ordinances tied to financial supervision, payment services, virtual assets, Central Bank oversight and clearing and settlement systems within the monetary union of Curaçao and St. Maarten.

According to Minister Gumbs, the Draft National Ordinance on the Supervision of Payment Service Providers is a necessary first step toward creating market access for legitimate international payment companies. She explained that without clear rules, licensing requirements and supervision by the Central Bank of Curaçao and St. Maarten, major international payment service providers headquartered abroad are unlikely to offer services in St. Maarten.

The Minister stressed that the law would not automatically bring PayPal, Revolut or similar platforms to St. Maarten overnight. However, she said it would create the legal credibility and regulatory certainty needed for St. Maarten to begin serious discussions with international payment providers.

Gumbs said St. Maarten has several arguments it can present to such companies once the legal framework is in place. She pointed to the country’s practical use of the U.S. dollar, even though the legal currency is the Caribbean guilder, as well as St. Maarten’s unique position alongside the French side, where the euro is used. This, she said, creates a natural bridge for cross-border digital payments, tourism spending and international commerce in multiple currencies.

The Minister also said St. Maarten should not evaluate its attractiveness to fintech companies based only on population size. Instead, she said the country must focus on the volume and frequency of transactions that move through the economy every day, including tourism spending, cruise passenger activity, online bookings, restaurants, car rentals, villas, excursions and small business activity.

In response to questions about Revolut, Gumbs said her understanding is that the platform may have initially allowed limited access to persons in St. Maarten through its broader international platform, even without a specific local legal framework. However, she explained that companies such as Revolut continuously reassess jurisdictions based on regulatory certainty, compliance requirements, market viability and supervisory structures.

The Minister said there is no indication that Revolut’s services were withdrawn from St. Maarten because of one specific incident. Based on available insight, she said, the platform’s absence appears to be linked mainly to commercial viability and the absence of a clear licensing and supervisory framework.

MP Darryl York previously also questioned the Minister about a March media article which indicated that international digital payment platforms were not currently planning to enter the St. Maarten market. Gumbs said the indication from that article was that platforms such as Revolut and PayPal were not looking to enter the market at this time, primarily because of the country’s limited economic scale and certain regulatory challenges. In essence, she explained, the market is presently viewed as not commercially viable when compared to the cost of compliance, licensing and regulatory obligations.

Responding to the suggestion that local banks may not have welcomed peer-to-peer payment platforms because of possible losses in transaction fees, Gumbs said that perception is understandable, but does not fully reflect the situation. She said the limited presence of international payment service providers is primarily connected to the lack of a clear licensing and supervisory framework, combined with the relatively small size of the market.

MP Ardwell Irion questioned whether the proposed framework would be enough to attract international payment platforms such as Revolut, PayPal and similar services to St. Maarten. He said that if the country still does not have the right environment for those platforms to operate, then St. Maarten must seriously consider creating its own local or regional digital payment solution. Irion argued that simply saying the legislation creates enough room is not sufficient, because if that room already existed, more companies would already be connected and operating in the market.

He further pointed out that any company seeking to participate in the digital payment sector must be able to connect properly to the APIs of commercial banks. At present, he said, access to those systems remains a key barrier. Irion said the Central Bank should establish clear parameters and guardrails for how payment systems can operate, including what security, compliance and technical requirements must be met.

He asked whether government would consider having the Central Bank create the conditions for St. Maarten to develop its own payment platform, or at least establish proper rules that would allow local and regional companies to participate fairly. He said the current market has not solved the issue on its own, otherwise the country would already have these services in place.

The Minister said one of the tangible benefits of adopting the proposed legislation would be the possibility for more digital payment and financial service providers to become active in St. Maarten. This, she said, is something residents and businesses have been calling for, as it could promote greater access, efficiency, competition and modernization in the financial sector.

The Minister also emphasized that the National Ordinance on the Supervision of Payment Service Providers is open to all market participants and does not single out, favor or restrict any specific entity. Instead, the legislation establishes a general regulatory framework under which any qualified institution may develop and offer payment solutions in St. Maarten. In that sense, the ordinance is intended to create a level playing field: once the applicable licensing, compliance and supervisory requirements are met, all eligible entities would have the opportunity to design, implement and provide their own payment systems and services.

Gumbs was in Parliament to discuss the Draft National Ordinance containing rules regarding the supervision of securities intermediaries and asset managers, also known as the National Ordinance on the Supervision of Securities Intermediaries and Asset Managers. Also on the agenda was the Draft National Ordinance containing rules regarding the supervision of payment service providers, the Draft National Ordinance containing rules regarding the supervision of virtual asset service providers, and the Draft National Ordinance containing rules regarding clearing and settlement systems in the monetary union of Curaçao and St. Maarten, also known as the Draft National Ordinance on the Supervision of FMI System Operators.

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