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By now, you’ve probably heard about BiMPay, the Central Bank of Barbados’ new national instant payment system, which will go live on March 31. Perhaps you’ve heard that it will be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and that people will be able to send money electronically to anyone in Barbados, including people without a bank account, and that they’ll get it within 10 seconds. Hearing that, you might wonder how that is possible, and you might find yourself asking, “What exactly is BiMPay? And how does it work?”
It might be helpful to think of BiMPay as being two different but related things.
First, BiMPay will become the underlying infrastructure – or payment rail – that commercial banks and other financial institutions use to transfer funds electronically. It will replace the current platform, the automated clearing house (ACH), with a more modern system that offers greater interoperability – financial institutions’ systems will be able to talk to each other better – so that you’ll have a smoother, more consistent experience. One way you’ll feel this is that where before how fast you received the money someone sent you would vary depending on who the two of you banked with, now, you’ll get that money immediately.
At the same time, the Central Bank is offering an e-wallet that operates on the same BiMPay infrastructure that the large financial institutions will be using. People who download the e-wallet will be able to use it to send money to a friend, purchase groceries, pay a bill, etc.
The Bank has designed the wallet so that both people with a traditional account and those without will be able to use it.
So, how does BiMPay work?
If you have an account at a commercial bank or one of the three largest credit unions – Barbados Public Workers’ Cooperative Credit Union, City of Bridgetown, or Affinity Plus – you’ll have two options. First, you can continue to use their online or mobile banking platform because transactions you make with them will now be powered by BiMPay. Alternatively, you can download the e-wallet from Google Play and the App Store, link it to your bank or credit union account, and make payments that way.
If you don’t have an account, you can still use the wallet. In that case, you’ll link it to a licensed payment service provider, which will act as a custodian of your funds and facilitate your transactions. You’ll need to provide some basic information, including your name, address, and national registration number as well as your email address and mobile number. This is called simplified due diligence, and it allows the payment service provider to confirm you are who you claim to be. Once they’ve done so – and in most cases, this should take around 30 minutes – you can start using your e-wallet.
It’s important to note that because the payment service provider doesn’t have a preexisting relationship with you and you weren’t required to provide comprehensive information, there will be daily, weekly, and annual limits on how much money you can send using your e-wallet. Still, the e-wallet will provide you with access to another payment option that wouldn’t have been available previously.
It’s clear, then, that BiMPay will open the door for all Barbadians, regardless of who they bank with, or if they don’t bank with anyone at all, to have access to a modern, convenient, and easy-to-use payment option. Now that you understand what it is and how it works, you’re all set to take advantage of all the benefits it will offer.