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Caribbean ports urged to become hubs for trade, energy and investment. September 25, 2026 Caribbean ports have an opportunity to capture significantly more economic value from the trade, tourism, and shipping activity already moving through the region. However, doing so will require greater investment in modern infrastructure, energy systems, and regional connectivity. That was among the key messages emerging from "The Port Opportunity: Trade, Tourism and Energy Hubs", a panel discussion at the 10th Caribbean Infrastructure Forum (CARIF), sponsored by CIBC alongside KPMG, in Miami last week. The discussion brought together port and infrastructure leaders from across the region and internationally to examine how Caribbean ports can evolve beyond their traditional roles into strategic hubs supporting trade, tourism, energy security, and economic resilience. Moderated by Jeffrey Newton, CIBC Caribbean Senior Director of Credit Underwriting and Portfolio Management, the panel featured Mehmet Ali Deniz, Global Investment Holdings Group Chief Strategy Officer; Donna Marie Howe, Jamaica Bauxite Mining Limited Managing Director; Derek Newbold, Grand Bahama Port Authority Limited Chief Investment Officer, Business Development Department; and Darwin Telemaque, Antigua and Barbuda Port Authority Chief Executive Officer and Port Management Association of the Caribbean Chairman. Newbold said the region should look beyond simply increasing the amount of cargo passing through its ports and focus instead on capturing more of the economic activity surrounding that movement. "We shouldn't so much be focusing on how much more cargo we can get into our ports. The focus is how can we now capture some of that economic value when the cargo and the commerce is actually moving through our region," he said. That opportunity, he explained, includes investment in cold-chain storage, warehousing, distribution and assembly facilities, maritime services and resilient energy infrastructure. Newbold said attractive infrastructure projects should strengthen at least one of three areas: connectivity, resilience or competitiveness. Telemaque highlighted that modernization has become particularly urgent as much of the Caribbean's port infrastructure dates back decades, while the demands being placed on those facilities continue to evolve. "Time to pay attention to the most critical assets you have on your islands. Put in the right investments and empower your industries," he said. He also pointed to the global maritime industry's energy transition as a major economic opportunity for the Caribbean. With the region hosting a substantial share of the global cruise business, he said Caribbean ports should begin positioning themselves to provide the infrastructure and services vessels will increasingly require, including shore power, alternative-fuel bunkering and improved waste-management systems. "We have sun, we have wind, we have geothermal. We ought to start finding the investments to create fuels, to create bunkering hubs, to create the shore power we need," Telemaque said. Rather than every Caribbean destination attempting to provide every service, he suggested greater regional coordination could allow ports to develop specialized capabilities and complementary energy hubs. Howe similarly stressed that modernization cannot take place in isolation. With port upgrades requiring significant capital and long-term planning, she said governments, port operators, technical specialists, financiers, and other stakeholders will need to work together on infrastructure that can respond to future trade and energy requirements. "We need to think about what that trading hub in the Caribbean is going to look like in 20 to 30 years, and it has to be done progressively," Howe said. She also emphasized the wider role ports play in Caribbean societies, pointing to their importance not only for commerce but also for disaster response and recovery. Deniz, meanwhile, highlighted the relationship between infrastructure investment and tourism growth, arguing that successful cruise-port development requires attention to both physical capacity and the experience passengers have once they arrive. "You cannot create a great destination just by making great infrastructure. You also need to bring in activities to people," he said. The discussion also highlighted opportunities to extract greater value from the cruise industry beyond passenger arrivals. These include locally supplying ships with food and other provisions, expanding waste-management services, developing energy and bunkering capabilities, and creating pathways for more Caribbean people to work aboard cruise vessels in technical, engineering and leadership positions. For investors, Newbold said the distinction between infrastructure that is desirable and infrastructure that is genuinely bankable remains critical. Revenue certainty, predictable cash flows, regulatory certainty and effective public-private sector engagement can all help move projects from ambition to execution. "Governments don't necessarily need to fund all of these investment projects, but the public sector plays a very important role in creating the right environment," he said, pointing to policy clarity, transparent processes and functional regulatory systems as important components. Across the discussion, panelists agreed that the Caribbean's ports are more than gateways for ships and goods. With strategic investment and stronger regional coordination, they can increasingly become platforms for energy, logistics, tourism, trade, and wider economic development. Spread the love

Canada's six biggest banks team up on a shared digital-dollar network. 2 hours ago In brief. RBC, TD, BMO, Scotiabank, CIBC, and National Bank announced Tuesday a joint plan for shared Canadian-dollar tokenized deposit infrastructure, starting with transfers between the banks themselves. The project is separate from the Bank of Canada's shelved digital-dollar consultation, where 85% of nearly 90,000 respondents said they would not use a hypothetical digital Canadian dollar. Scotiabank and TD are also among 21 banks building a joint U.S. dollar stablecoin, while BMO already runs a tokenized cash platform with CME Group and Google Cloud. Canada's six biggest banks just agreed to build shared plumbing for digital money. RBC, TD, BMO, Scotiabank, CIBC and National Bank announced Tuesday they're jointly exploring a Canadian-dollar tokenized deposit system. The first phase focuses on moving deposits between the banks themselves, not into consumer wallets. A tokenized deposit is a regular bank deposit represented as a digital token on a shared ledger - same money, same bank, same rules, just using a different network. It is not a new cryptocurrency, and it is not a CBDC either. The banks want the system "competitive and secure," as they put it in their joint statement, while keeping the safeguards that already govern commercial bank money. They also want the door open for other Canadian deposit-taking institutions to eventually join. Moving money between banks in Canada today is quite slow to clear outside a basic e-transfer. A shared token system would, in theory, let banks settle those transfers instantly and around the clock, with payments that can be programmed to trigger automatically - like releasing funds the moment a shipment clears customs. Customers likely wouldn't see any of this directly. It would just run in the background, the same way nobody thinks about the wiring behind an ACH transfer today. This is a different project from Canada's actual digital-dollar debate. The Bank of Canada ran a public consultation on a possible digital Canadian dollar in 2023 that drew almost 90,000 responses. Eighty-five percent of respondents said they would not use a hypothetical digital Canadian dollar, and many placed a high value on privacy and continued access to cash. BitcoinBTC · USD $84,046+10% 24H7D1M1YYTD Sep 16Sep 18Sep 20Sep 21Sep 23 $87.2k$83.3k$79.5k$75.6k 24h HighHigh$87,251 24h LowLow$83,974 VolVol$2.0B Market projectionsOdds by Myriad $50$100$500 Canada has tried digital cash before and shelved it. The Royal Canadian Mint sold off its MintChip digital-cash pilot in 2016, and the app built on it shut down for good in 2018. In the United States, JPMorgan, Citi, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo are building a rival tokenized deposit network through The Clearing House - the bank-owned real-time payments operator - targeting a first-half 2027 launch, largely to keep stablecoins from siphoning off deposits. Thirty-nine U.S. state banking associations have their own version too, the BankChain Alliance, aimed at community and regional lenders. Canada's Scotiabank and TD are named among the 21 banks backing a separate joint U.S. dollar stablecoin, also targeting the first half of 2027 - meaning the same institutions are betting on tokenized deposits and stablecoins at once. Another bank, BMO went live this year as the first bank on CME Group's tokenized cash platform on Google Cloud, letting institutional clients move U.S. dollars around the clock for margin and collateral. The six Canadian banks haven't set a launch date. The first phase stays limited to transfers between the participating institutions, with opening the system to other deposit-taking players still just a stated goal, not a commitment.

Six Canadian banks explore tokenized CAD deposits. Six major Canadian banks pilot tokenized deposits for interbank digital transfers. September 22, 2026 * Canada's six largest banks jointly explore tokenized Canadian dollar deposits to enable digital bank deposit movement between institutions. * The first phase focuses on transferring tokenized deposits among Canadian financial institutions, with potential expansion to other digital asset systems. * OSFI clarified tokenized deposits are not legally distinct from traditional deposits, providing regulatory clarity for the project. * Canada's Stablecoin Act, enacted in March, establishes a federal framework for fiat-backed stablecoins issued by non-financial institutions, effective in 2027. Bank of Montreal, CIBC, National Bank of Canada, Royal Bank of Canada, Scotiabank and TD Bank Group jointly announced a system for tokenized Canadian dollar deposits that would allow digital representations of bank deposits to move between financial institutions, according to a joint announcement on Tuesday. - Advertisement - Discover more Currencies & Foreign Exchange Financial Markets News Merchant Services & Payment Systems The initiative comes less than two weeks after Canada's banking regulator provided additional clarity on the legal permissibility of tokenized deposits. On Sept. 10, the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions said tokenized deposits are "not legally distinct from traditional deposits," adding that the underlying technology of a financial product does not determine its legal nature. Tokenized deposits represent money held at a regulated bank and remain a liability of that bank, unlike fiat-backed stablecoins, which are separate digital assets backed by reserves held by their issuer. The banks said the system aims to support faster and programmable payments, with longer-term plans to open the initiative to other deposit-taking institutions. Concurrently, Canada is building out a broader regulatory framework for digital money. In March, Canada enacted its Stablecoin Act as part of Bill C-15, establishing a federal framework for fiat-backed stablecoins. Non-financial institution issuers must register with the Bank of Canada, maintain 1:1 reserves in high-quality liquid assets, and offer redemption at par, with the framework expected to take effect in 2027. - Advertisement - Stay in the loop. Join 1.2K Smart Traders News September 23, 2026 OpenAI launched GPT-6 Sol at $2 per million input tokens and $10 per million... News September 22, 2026 A trading bot repeatedly buying and selling $1 contracts on Kalshi's Zohran Mamdani prediction... News September 22, 2026 A critical unauthenticated remote code execution vulnerability (CVE-2026-90898, CVSS 9.8) affects all versions of... News September 22, 2026 Binance invested $100 million in Circle, the issuer of the USDC stablecoinBoth companies expanded... News September 22, 2026 Here is the HTML code for the cryptocurrency news article, formatted as requested... Guides December 17, 2021 Ever since Facebook renamed their company to Meta, as well as their plans to build a metaverse where Bitnewsbot can travel into using Virtual...