Central Bank of Barbados Acts to Ensure Salary Payments and Safeguard Next Week’s Payrolls

The Central Bank of Barbados is providing an update on the situation affecting some salary payments that were not received on time on Friday. We understand the worry and hardship this has caused, and we want the public to know where matters stand.

Ensuring that every affected employee is paid remains our immediate priority, and we continue to treat this matter accordingly.

We are also treating next week’s payrolls, including government and the private sector payrolls, as a priority, and are working with the financial institutions and employers to ensure those payments are checked and ready before payday. The Central Bank has put immediate measures and twice-daily oversight in place and will remain engaged until salaries are flowing normally.

We have required participating banks and credit unions to work directly with employers to check and correct payroll information before payments are sent, and to credit affected employees through controlled arrangements where salary instructions and funds can be verified, so that workers are paid while the institutions settle matters between themselves afterwards. Banks have also been instructed not to charge employees any fees connected with these corrections.

We wish to reassure the public on one point in particular. No employee needs to download or use the BiMPay e-wallet to receive a salary. If you are paid by direct deposit to a bank or credit union account, that arrangement continues exactly as before, and you need do nothing.

The delays arose from the form in which some account information was submitted with payroll files. The banks are correcting this directly with the employers concerned, so that payments flow without these interruptions.

We regret the inconvenience and distress this has caused, and we are committed to seeing every affected employee paid.

For media enquiries, contact the Central Bank of Barbados at communications@centralbank.org.bb or 436-6870. Further information about BiMPay is available at www.bimpay.bb.