US opens up banking to private Cuban businesses

[El Presidente]

 

https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2024/5/28/us-opens-up-banking-to-private-cuban-businesses-to-boost-small-firms

US opens up banking to private Cuban businesses to boost small firms

The measures allow independent entrepreneurs to open and access US bank accounts online to support their businesses.

Published On 28 May 202428 May 2024

 

The United States has lifted some financial restrictions against Cuba, in a move designed to boost private businesses on the island.

The measures, announced on Tuesday, will allow independent entrepreneurs to open and access US bank accounts online to support their businesses. Other measures include steps to open up more internet-based services and expand private companies’ ability to use certain financial transactions.

 

“These regulatory amendments update and clarify authorizations in support of internet-based services to promote internet freedom in Cuba, support independent Cuban private sector entrepreneurs, and expand access to certain financial services for the Cuban people,” the US Department of the Treasury said in a news release.

One of the key changes would allow Cuban private business owners to open bank accounts in the US and then access them online once back in Cuba — something they couldn’t do previously. The US also is again allowing something called U-turn transactions, where money is transferred from one country to another but is routed through the US.

“This reinstated authorization is intended to help the Cuban people, including independent private sector entrepreneurs, by facilitating remittances and payments for transactions in the Cuban private sector,” the release said.

The administration of former US President Donald Trump had removed permission for the U-turn transactions in 2019.

The Treasury Department’s updated guidance also changed terminology that the agency uses to make clear that Cuban officials or prohibited Cuban Communist Party members were not benefitting from the changes that are aimed at the country’s emerging private sector.

About 11,000 private businesses in Cuba are responsible for roughly one-third of the island’s employment, Cuban officials have said.

 

The changes come as Cuba is struggling with one of the worst economic and energy crises in its history. Cuban citizens face waves of blackouts that have gotten worse in recent weeks and are frustrated over food shortages and inflation. Hundreds of thousands of people have migrated, many of them headed to the US.

Ties between the US and Cuba were essentially frozen after the 1959 revolution that saw Fidel Castro rise to power and install a Communist government. There was a wave of nationalisations of large companies, although some small private businesses were allowed to stay open until 1968.

[El Presidente]

 

[Habanoschris]

This is very fascinating, read about this in ny times. To think, only a few years ago private business sector was still prohibited in Cuba and now private businesses make up about a third of jobs there.  Definitely a spark.

[JohnnyO]

Pure rubbish. The private businesses are run by government officials or someone related to a government official. I don't see how anyone in Cuba can open up a bank account in the US as they say. The 1st thing a US bank asks from you is your social security card, not the number but the actual card. Either way, the current manipulation of the CUP will crush all of those MYPIMES into oblivion. The guys at the top pulling the strings will walk away with bags of cash. John