The Central Bank of Barbados published an update on Barbados’ accelerating migration from cash and cheques to electronic payments, using its Digital Payments Index (DPI) as a yardstick for modernisation. It also set out how BiMPay, launched in August 2025, is intended to provide 24/7 instant payments across banks and licensed providers ahead of its March 31, 2026 go-live date. From 2013 to 2024, the DPI rose from -0.86 to +1.03, turning positive in 2019 when electronic payments first surpassed traditional methods. Over the same period, the share of cheques in automated clearing house (ACH) transactions fell by more than half while direct electronic transfers expanded by more than 700 percent, and currency in circulation outside deposit-taking institutions declined by about 41 percent in real terms since 2013. Card usage also shifted toward point-of-sale, with the point-of-sale share of debit transactions up 27 percent and the ATM share down 17 percent between 2013 and 2021. The DPI is constructed from six inflation-adjusted, per-capita indicators, treating point-of-sale transactions, direct ACH transfers and credit card use as digital signals, and cheque volumes, ATM withdrawals and currency in circulation as cash-based counter-signals. BiMPay is positioned as an always-on instant payment rail open to individuals, businesses and government agencies, including access pathways for users without traditional bank accounts via participating institutions, with mandatory participation by core institutions intended to support coverage from launch. The Bank also pointed to the Central Bank of Barbados Act, the National Payment System Act 2021, and its Regulatory Framework for Payment Service Providers as the oversight framework, and flagged trust, cybersecurity and merchant acceptance as key adoption priorities ahead of the 2026 start.

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