Instant payments come to Curaçao and Sint Maarten

The Central Bank of Curaçao and Sint Maarten (CBCS), local commercial banks and European paytech provider Worldline have teamed up to implement the basic infrastructure for instant payments in Curaçao and Sint Maarten – IP CSM.

Central Bank of Curaçao and Sint Maarten (CBCS). Image source: CBCS

Developed by Worldline, IP CSM fully complies with international standards and ISO 20022, the developer says.

As a result of this collaborative initiative, all interbank payments in and between Curaçao and Sint Maarten and in Bonaire will now be processed within ten seconds, 24 hours a day and 365 days per year.

With the exception of two local commercial banks, which will join later in 2022, all banks in Curaçao, Sint Maarten and Bonaire are participating in the project.

With the introduction of IP CSM, CBCS says it has become one of the first financial institutions to make use of a dual currency system for instant payments (Netherlands Antillean Guilders and USD).

The next step will be expanding the payment options to more efficient mobile and online person-to-person (P2P), person-to-business (P2B), person-to-government (P2G) and in-store payments.

Later, the infrastructure will be connected to instant payment ecosystems in other currencies, such as Aruba and the Netherlands.

Leila Matroos, executive director of CBCS, says the local financial services industry is now “better prepared for the future, and for the countless developments in the world of payments”.