The Central Bank of The Bahamas has launched a public consultation on a compendium of proposed legislative reforms, issued as two papers covering financial sector resilience and payments services and a separate package of amendments for cooperative credit unions. The proposals aim to strengthen the regulatory framework for resolution and crisis management, expand depositor protection, and enhance oversight of payment services and instruments. The financial-sector paper proposes amendments to the Central Bank of The Bahamas Act 2020, the Banks and Trust Companies Regulation Act 2020, the Protection of Depositors Act 1999 and related bye-laws, and the Payment Systems Act 2012 and Payment Instruments (Oversight) Regulations 2017, alongside new administrative monetary penalties regulations for both the Central Bank and the depositor protection regime. Measures include consolidating a special resolution and liquidation framework for banks and credit unions in the central bank statute, introducing recovery planning and resolvability assessments for systemically important institutions, expanding statutory administration tools to bank holding companies and affiliated operational entities, and enabling recognition of foreign resolution actions. Depositor protection reforms include an emergency back-up funding facility allowing the Deposit Insurance Corporation to borrow from the Central Bank with government guarantees, and revised rules on when and how the insurer can support resolution measures and recover costs via levies. The package also migrates money transmission service providers from the banking framework into the payment institutions regime, strengthens payment-system and payment-instrument oversight with an explicit consumer-interest lens, and updates currency and governance provisions including legislative treatment of the Bahamian dollar digital currency. The credit-union paper proposes amendments to establish a resolution and liquidation framework for failing credit unions, strengthen supervisory and enforcement powers, and update governance, capital adequacy and reserve requirements for the sector. Draft provisions also cover fit-and-proper assessments, board-level committee structures, virtual and hybrid meetings, dormant account treatment, and a proposal to remove the value added tax exemption for credit unions. Comments are requested by 31 October 2025, and the consultation papers and draft legislation are published on the Central Bank’s website.
Central Bank of the Bahamas 2025-10-02
Central Bank of The Bahamas launches consultation on legislative reforms for resolution, depositor protection and payments oversight
The Central Bank of The Bahamas has launched a public consultation on legislative reforms to boost financial sector resilience and payment services. The proposals aim to strengthen resolution and crisis management frameworks, expand depositor protection, and improve oversight of payment services. Reforms for cooperative credit unions focus on establishing resolution frameworks, enhancing supervisory powers, and updating governance and capital requirements.