U.S travelers in Cuba can now use Stonegate Bank debit card

U.S travelers in Cuba can now use Stonegate Bank debit card

Stonegate, Mastercard announce deal to enable debit cards in Cuba
Cards can be used at restaurants, hotels, other merchants but not ATMs
BY NICHOLAS NEHAMAS
nnehamas@miamiherald.com

For the first time, American travelers will be able to use a debit card
in Cuba.

Pompano Beach-based Stonegate Bank announced Thursday that it will offer
a debit MasterCard to Americans visiting Cuba under one of 12 categories
approved by the U.S government.

The card can be used in Cuban hotels, restaurants and with other
merchants who accept cards. Stonegate said it plans to expand the use of
cards to ATMs in 2016.

"This is the first step in relieving the burden of U.S. travelers
carrying cash when traveling to Cuba and another step in normalizing
commercial relations between the two countries," David Seleski,
president and CEO of Stonegate, said in a statement. "Hopefully more
issuing banks will help this process by approving credit and debit cards
as well."

In July, Stonegate set up a correspondent banking relationship with
BICSA, a Cuban bank, the first major business deal by an American
company in Cuba since the U.S. resumed diplomatic relations with the
island nation.

The arrangement made it easier to transfer money to Cuba and was viewed
as the first step in encouraging financial activity between the two
countries.

Americans have been allowed to use credit and debit cards in Cuba since
January, thanks to new rules from the U.S. Treasury's Department Office
of Foreign Assets Control. But no U.S. financial institutions actually
offered any type of cards until Thursday's announcement, fearing that
doing business in Cuba was too risky.

MasterCard said it decided to allow its cards to be used in Cuba in
March but needed to partner with a bank that could issue the cards.

"As the infrastructure continues to develop on the island," Jeff Wilson,
president of Mastercard's GeoCentral division, said in a statement,
"this milestone reinforces a collective effort ... to deliver our
cardholders a convenient and safe way to pay when traveling to Cuba."

Source: U.S travelers in Cuba can now use Stonegate Bank debit card |
Miami Herald -
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/cuba/article45458592.html