at https : / / www. afiglobal. org / sites / default / files / publications / 2018 - 08 / maya _ fs _ 18 _ aw _ digital. pdf see press release : the central bank of the bahamas joins the alliance for financial inclusion & commits to the maya declaration, https : / / www. centralbankbahamas. com / news. php? id = 16452 & cmd = view the sochi accord : fintech for financial inclusion ( https : / / www. afiglobal. org / publications / 2851 / sochi - accord - fintech - for - financial - inclusion ) 9 | page box 3 : central bank of the bahamas commitments under the maya declaration under the maya declaration of the alliance for financial inclusion the central bank has committed to : i ) support the development of a national financial inclusion strategy by 2020. ii ) increase access to banking and payment services by reinforcing our newly revised customer due diligence ( cdd ) requirements. iii ) introduce a digital version of the bahamian currency by 2020, to ensure minimum levels of access to banking and payments services in geographically remote parts of the bahamas. iv ) collaborate with the government on improved national identity infrastructure to enhance the know your customer ( kyc ) procedures in our supervised financial institutions ( sfis ). v ) conclude the development and start - up of a credit bureau in the bahamas by 2020 to foster trust and accountability between our sfis and their customers. vi ) in partnership with relevant stakeholders, pursue the creation of the office of the financial services ombudsman ( ofso ) by 2020. vii ) promote public awareness of consumer rights and responsibilities through our recently deployed financial literacy program, get money smart bahamas. 10 | p a g e

www. bis. org / cpmi / publ / d174. htm ). this preserves the level playing field that prevents payment services providers from paying interest on stored value products. it also avoids any expanded mandate for the central bank to intermediate savings at direct costs to the bank or in competition with other financial institutions. 5 | page conclusion and the way forward the near - term actions for the central bank is to complete the contractual on - boarding of our technology solutions provider, and then to deepen the preparation and outreach process for the pilot. the government is a lead stakeholder and critical sponsor of national initiatives that will help transform the domestic financial services sector and the payments system. the central bank will stay actively engaged with the government to ensure that the legal framework evolves in step with payments system needs ; that the bahamas achieves the financial inclusion outcomes that are desirable for our archipelago and to ensure that the commercial sector benefits from a more efficient and secure infrastructure. the other key stakeholders, with whom engagement and outreach will intensify over the remainder of this year are the local financial institutions and public and private enterprises of all sizes. there will be much more to reveal about project sand dollar. 6 | page appendix of tables and boxes. box 1 : profile of the bahamian payments system the bahamian payment system is continually evolving, showing shifts towards greater use of electronic transactions, and out of branch access to banking services. both consumers and business firms are using these electronic options in increasing numbers. in 2017, 56. 8 % of commercial banking branches were located in the capital, while the remaining 43. 2 % were in found in grand bahamas and the family islands. this was still a shrunken access from as many as 88 branches in 2008 to 74 outlets at the end of 2017. as to access to atm terminals, 71. 5 % were in new providence, 13. 8 % in grand bahama and the remaining 14. 6 % were in the family islands. under electronic payments, between 2013 and 2017, payment card usage rose by 138 % and 203. 2 % l respectively, with equally impressive growth in the number of merchant terminals able to process such payments. there has also been a significant increase in the use of online banking by both consumers and businesses. selected payment systems data new providence grand bahama family islands total debit cards 1, 352, 857 1, 196, 012 2, 013, 084 2, 771, 071 3, 221