Forward Multimedia has been an official Strategic Partner with First Atlantic Commerce (FAC) since 2013, offering the first ever TTD Payment Gateway in Trinidad & Tobago via local banks.
Currently in 2024, ALL local banks have partnered with FAC to offer online payment solutions for E-Commerce websites in T&T
First Atlantic Commerce (FAC) is a payment gateway provider based in Bermuda and offers a TT Dollar gateway available in Trinidad & Tobago in partnership with our local banks.
ALL local banks, namely First Citizens Bank (FCB), Republic Bank, Scotiabank, RBC Royal Bank, CIBC First Caribbean Bank offer FAC’s payment gateway.
These alliances have tremendous advantages and have overcome the challenges that were face by Trinidad & Tobago businesses by having an E-Commerce solution in Trinidad & Tobago that’s specifically designed for them. The First Atlantic Commerce (FAC) solution is not new to Trinidad & Tobago, it was available in the ‘earlies’ but only offered to corporate and commercial clients via Scotiabank. Only in late 2013 did First Citizens Bank (FCB) come on board, followed by two more banks in 2015. By 2019, all banks offered the FAC.
FUN FACT #1: FCB’s first commercial FAC integration was with a Forward Multimedia client and the developer cost to code was a whopping $1,800 USD. Hmmm, fact wasn’t fun then!
FAC was the first online payment solution in T&T
When it became available, processing of payments in TT Dollars became possible for the first time, as too several other features that were not available from PayPal and 2Checkout.
Processing in USD is possible for international transactions when customers use non T&T issued credit cards and you, the merchant, legitimately earn your own USD which you have a right to. Not all banks automatically allow USD transactions, Republic Bank for example, needs to ‘monitor’ your account first before they can grant that privilege. I’ve had FCB allow it without issue. Please check with your bank first if you need to also process transactions in USD.
FAC has solid operations, stellar customer service
From the beginning of our partnership and up to this day, FAC has been an extremely efficient operation. FAC doesn’t drop the ball, ever. Every new account is seen all the way through in a very coordinated manner with all departments. Replies to inquiries and support requests are always timely, always same-day and often within an hour or even minutes. They always send out notifications of service disruptions and follow-up status updates.
Overall, if there was ever a rating for FAC, it would be a well deserved five stars. Any similar new entrant to the T&T payment gateway space would have to really come out swinging to make any impact.
Forward Multimedia offers a custom FAC integration for WordPress for an additional one-time fee for an online store powered with Woo Commerce. Installation, configuration and testing is done by our developer and we work directly with FAC till official clearance to go live.
Merchants need to apply to their bank’s Electronic Banking Unit first to get approved and have the Merchant ID (MID) issued that FAC needs to connect the gateway. Forward Multimedia assists with the completion of the paperwork.
Forward Multimedia Ltd with our partner, has developed a Shopify private application (“APP”) that acts as a payment gateway. This Payment Gateway can be configured to work with any Payment Providers. The private APP has been configured to work out of the box with FAC’s payment gateway.
The Private APP workflow follows the manual payment method in Shopify. This workflow allows the use of the external payment gateway with no extra charge.
Merchants need to apply to their bank’s Electronic Banking Unit first to get approved and have the Merchant ID (MID) issued that FAC needs to connect the gateway. Forward Multimedia assists with the completion of the paperwork.
FUN FACT #2: It takes at least 2 months to reach the final point where FAC gives all-clear for live transactions. A month and a half is spent actually getting the MID here in T&T. Go figure!
FAC gateway default features
What makes First Atlantic Commerce so attractive (other than being the only gateway like it in T&T), are those by virtue of it being a direct merchant account with acquiring bank (as opposed to an aggregate account like WiPay). Others include:
Multi-currency processing, not limited to TTD and USD
Daily settlement/payouts
Repeat and Subscription Billing
24 x 7 telephone, web and email technical support
Sophisticated Merchant Portal
Initiate refunds and reversals
Forward Multimedia recommends no particular bank
From my experience of FAC integrations via four of the five banks (Scotiabank being the fifth), I have no clear favorite. Each have their own terms and relationships with FAC, pricing structure etc. Generally I advise clients to stick with the bank they do business with. If they deal with multiple banks, as most do, then they’re free to shop around and choose or negotiate the best deal.