Belize Bank’s AmEx relationship: a sign that the tide is changing for correspondent banking?

At the Belize Bank launch of its renewed partnership with American Express, we inquired whether this is a sign that things are going to be different. You will remember the challenges that Belizeans and people from other parts of the Caribbean face, due to issues with correspondent banking relationships. Last night, we asked American Express’s Rene Centeno if this direct relationship with Belize Bank is a signal that the tide is changing.

Rene Centeno – Head, Global Commercial & B2B Products, AmEx “We used to manage the relationship with Belize Bank as a third party model because they need another banking institution in the middle and now we certified them as a direct acquirer and this means that they are going to manage the direct relationship with the merchants and this implicates that all the servicing, all the pricing, all the support is going to be related to them and obviously with this certification we manage all the technology, all the compliance, the management related to disputes and chargebacks that normally are the main concerns from the merchant perspective and they are going to receive the servicing related to the bank and that’s why we select Belize Bank as our main partnership here to improve that kind of relationship.”