Published 9 August 2025
Buckie Got It
St. Kitts and Nevis News Source
Caribbean central banks testing payment system to reduce reliance on US banks
Four Caribbean central banks are launching a pilot project to develop an alternative payment system aimed at reducing reliance on the US dollar for trade and remittances.
Spearheaded by the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank, ECCB, the initiative seeks to transform cross-border payments, and will eventually link it to Africa’s system, which created the service three years ago.
The pilot for the so-called Caricom Payment and Settlement System, CAPSS, will initially include Barbados, The Bahamas, ECCB member states, and one additional country to be confirmed, ECCB Governor Timothy Antoine announced at the Africaribbean Trade and Investment Forum held in Grenada last week.
“I’ll leave the other country to confirm when it is ready to do so,” said Antoine. “Once we complete the pilot, we’ll look at scaling up,” he added.
