Digital Financing in Belize

“Fair Digital Finance”, it’s the theme for this year’s World Consumer Rights Day which is observed annually on March fifteenth. Digital financial services and financial technologies have driven significant change across the world. They have also created new risks along with worsening traditional risks that can lead to unfair outcomes for consumers. Earlier today, the Belize Bureau of Standards hosted a webinar on digital financing in Belize. Jose Trejo is the director.

Jose Trejo, Director, Belize Bureau of Standards

“Really our society and our world economy is immersed in a technological revolution that has and will continue to fundamentally alter the way we live, the way we work and how we relate to one another. In its scale, its scope and complexity, the transformation is unlike anything that we have seen, at least our generation has seen and experienced before. As it unfolds, one thing I think is very clear, the response to this transformation is one that is integrated, it’s one that is comprehensive and it will involve all the stakeholders of the global polity, from public and private sectors to academia and civil society. If I can speak a little bit to some history, the first industrial revolution used water and steam and power to mechanize production, the second used electrical power to create mass production then the third used electronics and information technology to automate production. Now a fourth industrial revolution is building on the third, the digital revolution that’s been occurring since the middle of the last century. So it’s characterized by a fusion of technologies that is blurring the line between the physical, digital and biological spheres.”