Fintech & digital payments rules in Antigua and Barbuda (2026)

The Payment Systems and Services Act No. 13 of 2025 was passed into law in Antigua and Barbuda (gazetted as No. 13 of 2025), establishing structured licensing of payment service providers and e-money issuers and repealing the older 2008 Payment System Act.

The Eastern Caribbean Central Bank is the monetary authority and payment-system overseer for Antigua and Barbuda. Under the new Act it grants or refuses a payment-services licence within three months of a completed application and may set standards by category of service.

The Act defines an 'e-float' — an account at the Central Bank or other licensed institution where customer funds are held segregated from an electronic-money issuer's operating funds — embedding e-money safeguarding rules into the licensing regime.

The Act provides regulatory-sandbox provisions allowing fintechs to test innovative payment solutions in a controlled environment and mandates payment-system interoperability across the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union.

The Digital Assets Business Act 2020 with the Digital Asset Business Regulations 2021 created a tiered licensing system for digital-asset businesses (issuance, exchange, payment services, custodial wallets), supervised by the national Financial Services Regulatory Commission and operational since May 2021.

The region's CBDC pilot 'DCash' was discontinued (DCash 2.0 suspended per the ECCB Monetary Council's May 2026 communique) in favour of building a regional Fast Payment System for instant 24/7 EC-dollar transfers; there is no separate dedicated open-banking or BNPL regime, which are covered (if at all) under the general payments framework.