BiMPay Goes Live on June 12, Marking New Era in Payments

The Central Bank of Barbados has confirmed that BiMPay, Barbados’ new national instant payment system, will go live at 11:59 p.m. on Friday, June 12, 2026.

The Bank will mark this historic milestone during a special launch event, which will be livestreamed on the Bank’s YouTube and Facebook pages from 10:30 p.m.

As part of the proceedings, Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley will conduct the first transfer on the new system, sending a payment to a well-known Barbadian small business and marking the beginning of a new era of payments in Barbados.

Governor of the Central Bank of Barbados, Dr., The Most Honourable Kevin Greenidge, F.B. said, “BiMPay changes how money moves in Barbados. From June 12, a payment that once took hours or even days will settle in seconds, at any hour and on any day. This is a national achievement, delivered with our banks and credit unions, and it lays a foundation we will keep building on as new features come on stream.”

The launch follows months of testing involving participating financial institutions and key stakeholders across the local payments ecosystem.

At go-live, all six commercial banks and the three largest credit unions, Barbados Public Workers’ Co-operative Credit Union, City of Bridgetown Co-operative Credit Union, and AffinityPlus Credit Union, will be connected to the BiMPay rail. This is the underlying infrastructure that will replace the automated clearing house and real-time processing systems for interbank transfers.

Seven of those institutions will also connect to the Central Bank’s BiMPay e-wallet at launch. The e-wallet allows users to make payments using phone numbers, email addresses, or QR codes, and to send requests for payment.

Two institutions, Scotiabank and AffinityPlus Credit Union, will not initially connect to the e-wallet. Customers of these institutions will therefore not be able to link their bank accounts to the BiMPay app at go-live. However, they will still be able to send and receive interbank payments to and from customers of all participating institutions and BiMPay e-wallet users through their existing online banking platforms.

Scotiabank is expected to enable wallet access within 30 days of launch, while AffinityPlus Credit Union is expected to do so within 60 days.

The launch of BiMPay represents a major step forward in the modernisation of Barbados’ payments landscape. It will allow Barbadians to send and receive money instantly, securely, and conveniently, creating a faster and more efficient way to move money throughout the economy.

The Central Bank of Barbados remains committed to ensuring a safe, stable, and reliable implementation of BiMPay and will continue to provide updates as additional functionality becomes available.

For more information about BiMPay, please visit BiMPay.bb.