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Payments/AG

Antigua and Barbuda

ISO AG · 3 schemes

Summary

  • DCash ECCB CBDC with QR
  • Pilot ended January 2024
  • DCash 2.0 planned 2026
  • CaribPay digital payments
  • ECCU member 8-nation union

Banking landscape

Central Bank

  • Name: Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB)
  • Website: https://www.eccb-centralbank.org/
  • Role: Monetary policy for ECCU

Major Banks (2024)

Rank Bank Name Type Digital Platform
1 Antigua Commercial Bank Local ACB Mobile
2 First Caribbean Regional CIBC App
3 RBTT Bank Regional RBTT Mobile
4 Eastern Caribbean AB Regional ECAB App
5 Global Bank of Commerce Offshore GBC Online

Market Structure

  • ECCB: Regional central bank
  • DCash: CBDC implementation
  • Tourism: Economic driver
  • Offshore: Banking center

Payment infrastructure

National Payment Systems

System Operator Type Status
DCash ECCB CBDC Pilot ended
Bank transfers Banks Wire Active
Card networks Visa/MC Cards Active
ACH ECCB Clearing Active

DCash CBDC

  • Eastern Caribbean Central Bank
  • QR code payments
  • P2P, P2B, B2B
  • Pilot ended January 2024
  • DCash 2.0 planned 2026

Pilot Status

  • Launched March 2021
  • Discontinued January 2024
  • Technical issues cited
  • Relaunch planned

QR code standards

DCash QR

Attribute Value
Provider ECCB
Type CBDC
Feature Scan to pay
Status Ended Jan 2024

DCash QR Features

  • QR code scanning
  • Instant settlement
  • Zero transaction fees
  • Mobile wallet based
  • Cross-border ECCU

CaribPay

Attribute Value
Provider CaribPay
Feature Digital payments
Market Caribbean
QR Supported

Mobile payment apps

App Provider QR Features
DCash ECCB Yes CBDC wallet
CaribPay CaribPay Yes Payments
Bank Apps Various Limited Banking

DCash Wallet Features

  • P2P transfers
  • Merchant payments
  • QR scanning
  • No bank account needed
  • Free transactions

Pilot Challenges

  • Technical issues
  • Low adoption
  • Merchant reluctance
  • Infrastructure gaps

Schemes

Scheme Type Symbology Adoption Technical standard
DCash QR CBDC ECCB Ended dcash
CaribPay Digital Private Active caribpay
Bank transfers Wire SWIFT Active

Sources

Full country report

AG-antigua-and-barbuda.md

Schemes

Standards

source · docs/payments/AG/index.md