Vibrant activities in Fintech: Market Analysis on Financial Innovation in Curaçao and Sint Maarten

WILLEMSTAD, PHILIPSBURG – The financial sector undergoes a continuous stream of innovations. This leads to new products, services, and business models and rapidly transforms the market structure. The Centrale Bank van Curaçao en Sint Maarten (CBCS) has been observing a growing number of activities within the financial technology (Fintech) sector in Curaçao and Sint Maarten. To foster a stable, safe, sound, and efficient financial system, and ensuring that the innovative opportunities presented to the financial sector will lead to sustainable and inclusive financial services, the CBCS as a first step, published a Market Analysis on Financial Innovation in Curaçao and Sint Maarten. 

Given its responsibility for the supervision of the financial sector, CBCS considers monitoring the balanced and controlled development of innovations in financial products, services, and technology-based business models crucial to its mandate. Hence, the CBCS conducted an indepth study of the financial landscape in Curaçao and Sint Maarten. The market analysis report, titled ‘The Rise of Financial Technology in Curaçao and Sint Maarten,’ provides a detailed overview of all known Fintech activities within the monetary union. The report also analyzes the applicability of existing laws and regulations, the potential risks to supervisory objectives, and the opportunities Fintech offers. 

The research revealed a growing Fintech ecosystem in Curaçao and Sint Maarten with no less than 38 local Fintech institutions active in Curaçao and 4 in Sint Maarten. Additionally, there are 21 institutions located in other jurisdictions that offer cross-border services in our countries. 

In recent years, the number of Fintech companies has grown considerably. For the period 2014 to 2023, the graph shows the growth of Fintech companies. Remarkable is the steeper growth in the period surrounding the COVID pandemic, when several new Fintech companies were created to address the increasing need for digital financial services in the economy, in line with the global trend. 

Most of the activities of Fintech companies in Curaçao and Sint Maarten are concentrated in the payments segment. The Fintech companies offer a variety of digital payment and electronic money (e-money) services. 

An important characteristic of the Curaçao Fintech sector is that several of the Fintech companies use in-house technology. This is particularly prominent among larger, more internationally operating Fintech firms. These Fintech companies build on highly skilled staff, many of them local. This feature is particularly present in the payments and crypto assets sectors. Other Fintech companies mostly use technology licensed by foreign partners.