Delays in Salary Payments Due to Incorrectly Formatted Account Information

The Central Bank of Barbados is aware of concerns from some employees who have not received their salaries on time and who have associated those delays with BiMPay. 

The Bank wishes to clarify that the issue does not relate to a failure of the BiMPay payment rail. In the cases brought to the Bank’s attention, the delays relate to account information submitted in a format that does not meet the validation requirements for processing through BiMPay. 

Under the previous automated clearing house arrangement, which operated through batch processing, some formatting issues could be corrected or managed before payments were completed. BiMPay processes interbank payments in real time. This means account information must be correctly formatted before the payment is submitted, as the system validates the information immediately. 

The Central Bank has been working with participating financial institutions throughout the implementation of BiMPay to address account formatting and payment file requirements. Financial institutions have also advised that they continue to work with their corporate customers to resolve these matters. 

Employers who submit payroll or other electronic payment files should contact their bank or credit union to confirm the correct account format, file format, validation, and submission requirements for BiMPay. Employees with existing direct deposit arrangements do not need to download or use the BiMPay e-wallet to receive salaries. 

The Central Bank regrets the inconvenience and distress caused to affected employees. We are working with participating financial institutions to ensure that salary payments and other electronic transfers continue to flow smoothly. 

BiMPay is Barbados’ national instant payment system. Since interbank transfers resumed on BiMPay on June 13, the BiMPay payment rail has successfully processed 126,000 transactions totalling $210 million.