Stonegate Will Become First US Bank to Start Operations in Cuba

Florida-based Stonegate, the first US bank to establish banking relations with Cuba, can start providing payments and transactions between the countries in five-six weeks, Stonegate CEO Dave Seleski told Sputnik on Friday.

HAVANA (Sputnik) — The Stonegate CEO said that the operations between the two banks would mostly be related to transferring money for commercial and charitable transactions

"We are expecting next five to six weeks to be up and running. We signed the agreement and obviously there are operational things we have got to go through to get it up and running," Seleski said adding that the bank is currently solving "some operational issues" with Cuba’s Banco Internacional de Comercio (BICSA).

He did not rule out that the cooperation could be expanded.

"We are looking at different things, but at this point we are not at liberty to say so," Seleski said.

Stonegate Bank and BICSA signed a corresponding banking deal in late July. Seleski previously expected the bank would start handling transactions with its Cuban partner in mid-August.

On May 20, Stonegate opened an account for the Cuban government, contributing to a thaw in US-Cuba relations.

BICSA was founded in 1993 largely to handle international transactions. It has established over 600 correspondent relationships globally.

Stonegate Bank provides a wide range of financial services through its 21 branches in South and West Florida. According to the bank’s latest data, it has $2.27 billion in assets and $1.93 billion in deposits.