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Stonegate Bank in Pompano Beach, Fla., has confirmed that it will provide a bank account to the Cuban government.
May 22 -
The Obama Administration's issued looser rules Thursday for transactions in the small island nation, but banks still face impediments.
January 15 -
The U.S. Treasury announced some limited changes to its sanctions regime against Cuba, allowing banks to open accounts for Cuban nationals outside Cuba and eliminating some restrictions on those accounts.
September 18
Stonegate Bank in Pompano Beach, Fla., has begun offering a MasterCard debit card for use by U.S. citizens while traveling in Cuba.
The $2.3 billion-asset Stonegate said its MasterCard debit card can be used at 10,000 hotels, restaurants and other merchants in Cuba and will require a signature. Stonegate said it expects to expand the cards to ATMs next year.
"This is the first step in relieving the burden of U.S. travelers carrying cash when traveling to Cuba and another step in normalizing commercial relations between the two countries," Dave Seleski, Stonegate's chief executive, said in a news release Thursday. "Hopefully more issuing banks will help this process by approving credit and debit cards as well."
Stonegate's U.S. customers who travel to Cuba must first confirm they meet the necessary U.S criteria for visiting the country.
MasterCard in March lifted its block on U.S.-issued cards from being used in Cuba. Federal rules allowed each bank to decide if its cardholders would be allowed to use its cards in Cuba.
Stonegate is the first bank to let its cardholders make purchases in Cuba, Seleski said in an email.
Stonegate in May
The Obama administration in January