The Payments System Council (Council) was formed in 2002 as part of the institutional framework for the upgraded National Payments System. The objective of the Council is:
“… to support the achievement of sound and efficient payments clearance and settlement systems in the country and to participate in regional and international efforts aimed at maintaining ordered conditions in regional and international payment systems.”
In its early years, the Council was involved in the planning and implementation of a large value electronic transfer system, the Real Time Gross Settlement System (RTGS), a small value electronic transfer system, the Automated Clearing House (ACH) and the Government Securities Settlement (GSS) system. Thereafter, the Council became actively involved in providing advice on operational issues and challenges related to the use of these systems, the promotion of electronic payments and the strengthening of the legislative framework for the payment system.
From inception to now, the Central Bank is the Chair and the secretariat for the Council.
After a strategic planning exercise in 2015, the objective of the Council was reviewed and a mission and vision developed:
Mission
To influence the development of a sound and efficient payments infrastructure that is on par with international and regional standards and to support growth and development of the domestic economy through the sharing of market knowledge.
Vision
To become a Council that demonstrates leadership in the development of a globally recognized payments system that is sound, secure, and efficient which meets the evolving needs of stakeholders.
At present, members are focused on achieving four (4) key work objectives disaggregated across four work groups or sub-committees as per the following:
- Policy, Legislation, and Regulation -To plan and advocate for the legislative and regulatory changes required for Trinidad and Tobago’s payment system operations and development.
- Increasing Transactional Efficiency – To plan and facilitate improvements in the existing payments system’s efficiency, risk management, and security.
- Monitoring and evaluating global trends – To monitor and evaluate global trends by building internal capacity through research on emerging developments in the regional and international payments space and use this information toward making informed proposals to the wider Council;
- Communications – To improve communication, internal administration, and the internal business processes of the Council.
