Central Bank of The Bahamas launches consultation on mandatory basic banking accounts with B$33,800 annual transaction cap

The Central Bank of The Bahamas launched a public consultation on a proposed framework to ensure access to basic banking or transactional accounts, intended to provide a low-cost to no-cost payments account for unbanked and underbanked individuals. Under the proposal, retail-serving commercial banks would be required, and credit unions could potentially be required, to offer a basic account interoperable with domestic payments infrastructure including electronic funds transfers, digital wallets (including SandDollar) and debit cards. Key features include simplified customer due diligence at onboarding, approval or rejection within five business days, and means-testing tied to the minimum wage, with total debits and credits capped at B$33,800 per year (or B$2,817 per month) and a maximum account balance of B$13,520. Accounts would not have mandatory interest and would exclude cheques, overdrafts, other credit products and other deposit accounts at the same institution, while fee rules would prohibit monthly maintenance fees and aim to make core domestic transactions free within the thresholds, with certain charges permitted for items such as interbank ATM usage, card replacement and foreign exchange related transactions. Rather than disqualifying higher-risk customers, the framework proposes a restricted-tier account approach that narrows permissible inflows and outflows in cases of heightened fraud or anti-money laundering risk. Comments are due by 31 October 2025. The Central Bank plans to issue draft regulations reflecting feedback and to propose enabling amendments to the Payments System Act, 2012, with the aim of bringing regulations into force before the end of the first half of 2026.