This means that all interbank payments in Curaçao, Sint Maarten and Bonaire will soon be processed within ten seconds - 24 hours a day, 365 days per year. The Instant Payment transactions will be handled in Antillean Guilders and US Dollars. This makes the CBCS one of the first institutions to use a direct dual currency system and to process dollars instantly. The IP CSM will be fully compliant with international standards and ISO20022. The contract with equensWorldline will initially be for a period of five years.

Phase 1 and 2
Phase 1, in which the basic infrastructure will be built, is just the beginning of the implementation of Instant Payments on the islands. The CBCS wants to further develop Instant Payments and has already designed phase 2 together with equensWordline.

Phase 2 is aimed at expanding online and in-store Instant Payments with P2P (person-to-person), P2B (person-to-business) and P2G (person-to-government) payments.

Leila Matroos, Executive Director at the CBCS: “The developments surrounding Instant Payments are in line with our goal to modernize the infrastructure and stimulate economic development in Curaçao and St. Maarten. With the introduction of Instant Payments, we are preparing ourselves for future developments in the world of payments. We chose equensWorldline because of their experience and proven track record as the largest Instant Payments processor in the Eurozone.”

The new normal
The Central Bank of Aruba went live last month with a comparable Instant Payments project. The Centrale Bank van Curaçao en Sint Maarten will follow on short notice.

Michael Steinbach, CEO equensWorldline, said: “The developments surrounding Instant Payments in the Caribbean show that this payment method is on the way to becoming the new normal. We are fully geared to support the CBCS in their major development towards 24/7/365 payments, as our currency agnostic solution supports all possible use cases for Instant Payments, ranging from P2P, P2B, in store, online and corporate use cases. With 1.2 million IP transactions per day we are the largest Instant Payments processor in the Eurozone and we are proud that equensWorldline is now working on global expansion.”