NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Mobile wallet top-ups saw a significant decline during the first five months of this year reaching just $7.1 million when compared to $38.4 million during the same period last year.

"Comparative mobile payments trends continued to be impacted by the significantly reduced levels of Government transfer payments. Absent these transfers, total wallet top-up reached $7.1 million in the first five months of 2023, compared to $38.4 million during January to May 2022," the Central Bank noted in its public update on the Sand Dollar.

"In May 2023, most of these transferred payments were ultimately withdrawn in physical cash."

The regulator further noted that as a result, person-to-person (P2P) transactions contracted by 20.2 percent compared to the same period in 2022. The combined value of person-to-business (P2B) and business-to-business (B2B) transactions fell by one-fourth to approximately $3.8 million in May. The bulk of the transactions in 2023 continued to be processed in SandDollars.

According to the Central Bank, beta testing continues for the Central Bank's original SandDollar mobile wallet. The enhanced mobile app will provide a number of self-service tools and features to improve user satisfaction.

The regulator said that it anticipates a public release at the end of September 2023.

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