Mandatory Participation in National Instant Payment System

The Central Bank of Barbados (the Bank) has mandated that all of the country's commercial banks, the country's three largest credit unions, the Barbados Stock Exchange, and the Accountant General’s Office must operate on the Instant Payments System (IPS) effective March 31, 2026. 

This mandatory participation requirement applies to all existing participants in the interbank real-time clearing and settlement system (RTGS) and derives from the fundamental necessity to base the IPS platform on a fully interoperable model that can facilitate instantaneous financial transactions to all end-users of payment services in Barbados.

The IPS platform represents a major component of the Barbados Payments System Modernisation Project which aims to enhance financial accessibility by enabling real-time transactions for all Barbadians, regardless of their banking provider. 

The Bank stated further that the system will also allow access at a later stage to other non-bank financial entities such as money transfer service providers, mobile money operators, Fintechs and other payment service providers that the Bank licenses.

In recent years, payment systems have become an essential focus of public policy worldwide, and central banks have been given responsibility in this area because of their role in maintaining the economy's financial stability. Central banks, in turn, have increasingly come to recognise the importance of Instant Payment Systems as a driver and tool for economic growth and increased financial inclusion.

The Bank's main objective is to enable and accelerate digital retail payments across various digital channels to achieve deeper financial inclusion cost-effectively and efficiently. This objective will be achieved by establishing the IPS platform which enables participating institutions to introduce various payment services on top of and around this infrastructure.