NASSAU, BAHAMAS — The Central Bank, as part of its digital payments strategy, is enhancing regulations to ensure licensed institutions provide access to the Sand Dollar and promote equal accessibility of digital payment instruments alongside debit and credit cards on domestic terminals, according to Governor John Rolle.
Governor Rolle told Eyewitness News: “As part of digital payments strategy, the Central Bank is developing regulatory enhancements on several fronts to improve access to local payment instruments. Those will be outlined over the course of 2024. Regulations will speak to all licensed institutions having to provide their customers with access to SandDollar, similar to how institutions provide their customers access to physical cash.”
He added: “We are formulating a comprehensive strategy to make domestic digital payments instruments accessible on payments domestic receipting terminals on equal footing as credit and debit cards, to empower local fintech developers to become more active in building apps that integrate retail payments solutions; and to improve common messaging standards for point of sales payments which use QR codes.”
The Bahamas’ Central Nank officially launched the Sand Dollar in October 2020. By the end of December 2023, Central Bank data indicated that the volume of Sand Dollars in circulation had risen by 60.8 percent to $1.7 million since the beginning of the year. According to Central Bank figures, the number of personal wallets for the Sand Dollar expanded by 20 percent throughout the year, reaching 118,955 by the end of 2023.
