WILLEMSTAD/PHILIPSBURG:--- The joint launch of a public awareness campaign against payment fraud is the most important outcome of the first meeting of the National Payment Council (NPC) in 2025. This meeting took place on June 9, 2025, in Curaçao and on June 12, 2025, in Sint Maarten, at the Centrale Bank van Curaçao en Sint Maarten (CBCS). During the meeting, various topics related to payments were discussed, including local payment card fees, payment fraud, and the further development of Instant Payment functionalities. A growing number of innovative payment methods are being offered in Curaçao and Sint Maarten, such as payment links and making payments using QR codes. This development is positive as it makes payments quick, easy, and efficient for consumers and businesses. However, these forms of payment also come with risks, such as online payment fraud. This fraud can result in financial losses and reduced trust in digital payments. That is why NPC members have taken the initiative to launch a campaign to raise awareness, warn about the risks, and teach people how to protect themselves against payment fraud. This campaign was discussed during the NPC meeting and will be rolled out soon. During the NPCs held in December 2024, one of the key findings was the need to structure local payment card fees jointly. An important part of this is the uniform configuration of payment devices (Point-of-Sale machines) and ATMs. A follow-up meeting was held in February 2025 to reach an agreement with the bankers’ associations on resolving these issues. The NPCs held in June this year showed that many problems have already been resolved, but that further attention is still needed for a few cases that continue to cause incorrect fees and for payment devices that have not yet been properly configured to accept all types of payment cards.
Finally, developments concerning Instant Payment were also discussed. This technology is now being utilized to process local interbank payments in real-time. Recently, applications have also been introduced on the Instant Payment network that allow payments without a payment card — via web shops, in physical stores, and from person to person. The CBCS informed the NPC of the technical guidelines it is drafting to regulate such applications. These guidelines also incorporate open-banking standards. Open banking allows companies to efficiently offer applications that provide access to bank data, such as transactions and account balances, and also enable the initiation of payments. In addition to drafting these guidelines, the CBCS is also exploring the possibilities of offering international instant payments between Curaçao and Sint Maarten, Bonaire, Aruba, and the Netherlands.
Willemstad, June 24, 2025
CENTRALE BANK VAN CURAÇAO EN SINT MAARTEN
