Payment Gateways of the Caribbean: The Commerce of First Atlantic

irst Atlantic Commerce (FAC) is a leading, online payment gateway and fraud management solutions provider, founded in 1998, and headquartered in Bermuda, providing multi-currency, payment processing and risk management solutions to merchants and Acquiring banks in 21 Caribbean countries and Central America.

In 2017, FAC introduced a solution called Fygaro, partnering with a Costa Rican based technology company named Trambia, as an easy to use online billing platform ideal for freelancers and small to medium businesses. Fygaro is integrated to FAC’s platform to access via one interface to FAC along with all of their payment solutions. Fygaro is also marketed by FAC as an easy way to create your own web store via it’s own shopping cart.

In 2019, FAC announced another partnership, this time with Powertranz Ltd., a newly incorporated card payment solutions provider to support EMV and PCI Validated P2PE Point of Sale card processing, i.e. for face to face transactions for Point of Sale merchants across the Caribbean. In 2022 merchants in Trinidad & Tobago whose online stores used the FAC payment gateway, had to upgrade their integration to use the Powertranz software. Notably, Powertranz CEO is Christopher Burns, CEO of FAC.

How coincidental that First Atlantic Commerce, the first ‘book’ in this series, is first in a series of firsts:

• The very first payment gateway to become available Trinidad & Tobago (around 2010)
• The first commercial integration on a website by Forward Multimedia
• The first local bank to offer it to public was First Citizens Bank

And you’ll also note the obvious that the name starts with ‘First’. Also coincidentally, First Atlantic Commerce (FAC) is based in Bermuda, namesake of the famous Bermuda Triangle, in keeping with our theme.

he SS First Atlantic Commerce or FAC is it’s affectionately called, had already sailed the Caribbean Sea to Trinidad back in the days of yore, circa 2010’s or so. It was offered by Scotiabank at the time, but only for their larger, commercial customers. Back then, there was no E-Commerce in Trinidad & Tobago, even though Amazon was already 16 years old; there couldn’t be anyway, as the sad reality was that Trini businesses needed convincing they need to have even a website, much less online store. In fact, online was so brand new to T&T that I was told to the face by a business owner I was soliciting: “We don’t need a website, everybody knows about us…”

FAC didn’t drop anchor to plunder, but to put down stakes on the island. Being the only game in town, the natives started to embrace once they learnt that there was finally a payment option available locally. I was fortunate to meet Captain and CEO Christopher Columbus… er Burns, quite coincidentally. I was at a client consultation around Port of Spain and the questioning was a bit out of my depth and I was aware he was in town. So I called him and he actually took a taxi and came to the meeting. We went back together to the Hyatt where he was staying and proceeded to have a discussion about FAC and plans for T&T.

After Scotiabank, the next local bank to come on was First Citizens Bank (FCB), and the first commercial integration was a Forward Multimedia project. I had to outsource to a Canadian company and the cost was $1,800 USD. You read that right, $1,800 USD, enough to make even a pirate blush. It took some time for the cost to come down and get the integration done locally. At that time as well, banks were not giving out merchant accounts just so— only if you were already a customer. If not, i.e. you were a new customer, you had to post a deposit of $15,000 TTD to be held for a period of time… pirate blushes again…

Of course, more and more banks started coming on board till eventually all local banks offered the gateway. And though most early integrations started with FCB, as banks started competing eventually Republic Bank emerged as the dominant bank for Forward Multimedia’s client base.

Eventually, as is the case of growth and progress, other gateways came on the market, including cheaper formats like aggregators, essentially removing many barriers to entry and levelling the playing field. FAC, however, was still able to hold it’s own and remain firmly above water in the sea of competition. Or should that be Sea of Competition…

any key features of FAC are generally standard for gateway providers and what one would expect. However, while it would obviously accept credit card payments online, one key difference being limited to accepting of Visa and Mastercard only. And since the general anticipation is of international orders, especially from the US, it means other popular credit cards like American Express and Discover, are noticeably left out, not to mention Gold Doubloons and Pieces of Eight.

• Secure Payment Processing
• Multiple Payment Methods
• Global Reach and Multi-Currency Support
• Easy Integration with E-commerce Platforms
• Fraud Prevention and Security Measures
• Advanced Analytics and Reporting

Implementation Overview

FAC provides comprehensive documentation for developers to navigate the treacherous Sea of Code and can be integrated with any shopping cart via their API. Most online platforms do not have the FAC payment method as an option by default. One would typically find the ubiquitous PayPal all the time, which the user might check a box to enable, then configure with their own PayPal account credentials to connect. To use FAC would require a developer to first add it as a payment method that can be selected and enabled, and also connect to their own FAC account.

While it can be integrated on any shopping cart platform, in Trinidad & Tobago the most popular is WooCommerce, with Shopify a close second. Forward Multimedia and most other major local web companies have already done many such integrations over the years, which makes it a relatively standard process today. Other shopping platforms, like Wix for example, which is also a popular DIY solution for small businesses is not as popular for web companies. However Wix does support FAC via a third party solution called Tilopay. Personally, I don’t see the need for using Wix. If you’re looking for a DIY solution for a non-tech, then my advice is to just go with Shopify.

FAC also has a an implementation guide for plug-ins, which allows for creating, well, a plug-in, that one can, well, plug in. Some local web companies have created their own plug-ins but not Forward Multimedia. In theory, a plug-in is as straightforward as installing, activating and then configuring the required fields, but in practice it’s not as straightforward.

Hosting Payment Page requirement

It’s important to note that FAC, or any other payment gateway CANNOT be integrated on the website’s own server. Well, technically it can, but since this method means the merchants capture, store and process card data, it requires a high level of the PCI-DSS compliance. From the get-go, it has long been the policy of the banks to disallow it, even when the SS FAC first came ashore. Such compliance, requires levels of security that would be very expensive for the merchant and bureaucratic headache for the banks. Such an integration would have allowed the payment transaction to take place on the online store’s URL, without sending the customer to an external page (in reality a different site), completing the payment, then returning to the online store.

Instead, all integrations are done via what’s called a Hosted Payment Page (HPP) to enable their online transactions to be processed in accordance with PCI-DSS standards and meet compliance requirements. This service seamlessly redirects the cardholder from the merchant’s website to a separate and secure webpage hosted by FAC, where the customer enters their confidential, sensitive payment data. So on the checkout page, when a customer clicks Pay Now or Place Order, the button redirects to the HPP with the credit card fields to fill. The customer would notice the URL change on the browser, which would typically have the the word ‘powertranz’ in it. The hosted payment page is usually be customized by the merchant to retain the look and feel of their site for a seamless payment experience for their customers.

Now, this level of detail is not necessarily required knowledge for you the business owner. It’s not even mentioned to our clients anywhere during the process, as it is the process and all that they care about is a customer can use their credit card online and that they can get their money. It is only mentioned for completeness, and for those of you more technically minded, more astute in business and maybe just ‘fas’.

he integration process is very straightforward. FAC’s onboarding team has always been on the ball when comes to liaising with the bank, merchant and the developer. The entire process begins with the official application which is between the client and their bank. It’s long been standard business practice to have commercial accounts with more than one bank.

Getting started with FAC

1. Submit official FAC application to bank
2. Upon approval, bank issues Merchant Account
3. Bank/Merchant informs FAC (depends on bank)
4. Merchant informs FAC & Bank who is handling the integration (usually web design company)
5. Web design company/FAC liaise during integration
6. FAC reviews website and give go-live clearance

Merchants are free to contact the Electronic Banking Unit (or whatever the department’s official name) of their bank and initiate the process. At Forward Multimedia this step usually follows from an official engagement for design of their online store, and we normally send an email introduction to the bank introducing our client, and requesting that the bank connect with the client and get it started. Each bank has their own arrangement with FAC so the process and fees can vary. However, though they do not vary widely, it’s good business to prudent and shop around.

Typical fee structure

Typically the fees are:

• A sign-up fee (one time)
• Processing fees (negotiable and around 3.5% to 4%)
• Transaction fee (a flat fee charged per transaction, around 25¢ USD
• Monthly maintenance fee (payable to bank)

Everything is straightforward on paper, but in practice not so much. However, the longest time is actually spent at the application stage, which is between the merchant and the bank. Usually it’s just the paperwork required that takes up the time, you know, when a few days pass between the back and forth communication, it stretches a seemingly short process to a few weeks and even more than a month.

When it reaches the FAC stage, the process is shorter and therefore faster. Delays might be even be on the developer end per his workload and other human factors. In some cases there may be issues of a technical nature with coding and the website itself. Sometimes even FAC may have to turn something on or enable a feature etc.

Earning USD currency and keeping it

Aye! The mighty US Dollar be a treasure most prized by local businesses in Trinidad & Tobago! How USD is handled is a major concern of all local businesses. It’s a well known fact that T&T’s USD supply is controlled by modern-day pirates in suits and ties. You’ll need to know the bank’s policy on USD earned from non T&T credit card transactions. Generally the policy is to settle those transactions in TTD, unless you negotiate a USD merchant account.

Bear in mind that transactions from T&T issued credit cards will settle in TTD; you do not earn any USD like this. Non T&T credit cards however, are different, they are processed in USD. So your online sales to international customers are USD sales. However, if you are not issued a USD merchant account together with your TTD merchant account, your USD will be converted to TTD and credited to your bank account. And what happens to the USD you earned that you didn’t get? It’s kept by the bank to sell you $200 USD when you ask for foreign exchange. The rest is kept for their more equal customers.

Support & Maintenance

If your integration is ‘manual’ i.e. done by a developer (the way Forward Multimedia does it), then the cost is usually a one time fee, with a support window of usually six (6) months, which cover:

• Minor cosmetic changes
• Correction of functional issues that prevent the operation and workflow of the integration that was approved and delivered
• Coding updates with respect to breaking changes on the WooCommerce/Shopify Platform
• Ongoing updates to FAC’s code for security and breaking changes

Maintenance costs after the post-launch support period are nominal as rarely are there breaking changes. There was the one major instance in 2022 when FAC upgraded to Powertranz and 3DS2 support, which required a complete re-integration with new coding.

If you purchased an FAC plug-in from the other local web companies, you will have to pay an annual fee to maintain the plug-in license.

LL transactions can be viewed through FAC’s dedicated Captain’s Telescope Spyglass, er, Merchant Portal which is very robust. Here, merchants can view the source transactions for the orders received to their online store. The integration normally provides a a numbering cross reference to match the order number in the back end of WooCommerce or Shopify to the transaction in the portal.

One of the main value of the portal is to verify that the credit card payment has gone through. When a customer completes a payment online and receives success message and order confirmation, the order appears in the back end, and also usually indicates a successful payment. However, the portal is the only solid verification, and it’s best practice to verify all paid orders in the portal regardless of what the online store back-end says.

The portal also allows merchants to assist customers who may have had issues on the checkout page where some glitch may have caused some error, interrupting the the HPP process, leaving the customer unsure that their card was charged. Being real-time, as soon as this happens, it will appear in the portal, along with the error via a Response Code like the following:

• 00 Approved
• 05 Do not honor
• 14 Card number does not exist
• 51 Not sufficient funds
• 57 Transaction not permitted to card
• 82 Incorrect CVV

With this information the merchant will be in position to inform the customer of what to do next. The customer will also have a peace of mind knowing that the merchant knows what’s going on and can at least do some substantial initial troubleshooting, which makes for good customer service.

Another great feature of the portal is the ability to make reversals or issue refunds to customers. Of course, the merchant would not want to be doing this too often, but when the valid reasons arise, it’s useful to be able to do this on your own without having to call someone and wait. Again, this makes for good customer service.

adly, in today’s modern world, there are even digital pirates. That shouldn’t come as a surprise as actual piracy is still common today. Digitally, these scallywags come in the form of fraudsters using stolen credit cards attempting equally fraudulent transactions to plunder your online store. Over the years, with the rise in the number of online stores in Trinidad & Tobago, there been a corresponding rise in this illicit activity. And you would think that it would be more prevalent internationally and not so much here, but I’ve had clients who literally had people using stolen credit cards to buy goods online then physically show up to pick up the booty.

However, there is swashbuckling Captain Kount to the rescue. Of course that’s what his friends call him, everyone else calls him by his full legal name Mr. Kount Fraud & Risk Management Solution. It is a digital fraud protection solution integrated with FAC. Very modern, it’s an AI-driven digital fraud prevention system, which delivers accurate identity trust decisions in milliseconds.

Kount’s technology works in the background and builds personal profiles with hundreds of data points — propensity to spend, buying habits, payment history. So even though fraudsters may think they remain anonymous, identity details are collected, user and device attributes are gathered. Data elements can range from device type and IP address to user location and biometrics which red-flags immediately.

Some of the main features of Kount are:

• Identity verification– Determine how risky a customer’s digital identity is during events like account creation and checkout. Spot red flags that could indicate fraud.
• Bot detection– Identify the use of bots — a software program that runs automated tasks — to commit fraudulent activities.
• Velocity checks– Spot fraud patterns by monitoring the number of times a user tries to interact with your business within a short period of time.
• Card testing detection– Detect card testing on zero dollar authorization attempts or payment events.

Kount was always available from the get-go. In fact it was a requirement in all early integrations, till I actually lobbied the bank to make it optional. That’s because back then the E-Commerce in Trinidad & Tobago was such a drop in the ocean that Kount was overkill, even FAC agreed at the time. But how quickly time changed and the local E-Commerce market couldn’t have picked a worse indicator to signal ‘we reach’.

So gradually, as attempts and threats became more real, the Kount service was added on to all FAC integrations. Note, it’s an additional service so comes with an additional charge, and was one of the main reasons why it was never enabled by default.

Arrr, me hearties, as we weigh anchor and bid farewell to our journey through the seas of online commerce, ’tis clear that First Atlantic Commerce be the compass ye need to navigate the treacherous waters of digital payments in the Caribbean. With its steadfast security, a treasure trove of features, and the ability to handle the stormiest of transactions, this gateway be the treasure chest for any merchant seekin’ to set sail on the waves of e-commerce.

So, whether ye be a seasoned captain or a fledgling sailor, let First Atlantic Commerce be the wind in yer sails, guidin’ ye to ports of prosperity and shores of success. Avast, don’t let yer ship be marooned by lesser gateways; cast yer lot with First Atlantic Commerce and hoist the Jolly Roger of triumph over your online store.

May the trade winds be ever in yer favor, and may yer coffers be filled with the bounty of satisfied customers. Now, go forth, and conquer the seven seas of commerce with First Atlantic Commerce at the helm. Arrr!