If you have been approved to visit Cuba, your trip just became slightly easier. Stonegate Bank of Pompano, Florida is issuing a MasterCard debit card that will work in on the island. Credit cards are still rather rare as reported in an article on skift.com:
Presidents Barack Obama and Raul Castro announced plans to restore relations between the former Cold War foes nearly a year ago. The U.S. lifted a ban on U.S. banks and credit card companies from doing business in Cuba as part of the normalization.
The article does not make it clear what visitors from other countries have been doing for the last 50+ years to conduct transactions, but the anticipated flood of Americans has created a mini boom in acceptance capabilities:
On Wednesday, officials with Cuban state company Cimex said the government plans to expand credit card processing to commercial and retail outlets throughout Cuba in early 2016. According to state figures, 2,300 new credit terminals have been installed in 2015, a 28 percent increase.
Overview by Sarah Grotta, Director, Debit Advisory Service at Mercator Advisory Group
Read the full story here