A new study by Informa Telecoms and Media is projecting a more than 45 percent increase in mobile subscribers in the Caribbean between 2004 and 2009. The report shows a steady growth in this market predicating from 10.1 million by end of 2004 to 14.7 million by 2009. The study provides a comprehensive view of how the mobile revolution is reaching out to over 40 million inhabitants of the 31 political entities that make up the insular and mainland Caribbean. It shows how successive waves of market opening and investment are transforming the region�s communications landscape, one historically marked by insularity and a limited and costly telephone communications framework. Vibrant competition is emerging where government-sanctioned monopolies reigned just a few years ago. Penetration has climbed precipitously, even surpassing 100 percent on more affluent islands. In just a decade, mobile telephony has exploded from serving less than one-half of one percent of the region�s population to now providing service to over 25 percent of the residents � over 10 million subscribers. Even so, another 30 million still await the opportunity to link up.
The BaaS model has been adopted across a wide range of industries due to its ability to streamline financial processes for non-banks and foster innovation. BaaS has several industry-specific use cases, where it creates new revenue streams. Banking as a Service (BaaS) is rapidly emerging as a growth market, allowing non-bank businesses to integrate banking services into their core products and online platforms. As defined by Juniper Research, BaaS is "the delivery and integration of digital banking services by licensed banks, directly into the products of non-banking businesses, commonly through the use of APIs." BaaS Market Development The core idea is that licensed banks can rent out their regulated financial infrastructure through Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) to third-party Fintechs and other interested companies. This enables those organizations to offer banking capabilities like payment processing, account management, and debit or credit card issuance without