The Payments System Council was formed in 2002 as part of the institutional framework for the upgraded National Payments System. The objective of the Council is to ''... 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.''
The first projects of the Council in its early years were 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 System (GSS). At that time it was considered prudent that the membership of the Council be confined to the stakeholders who were involved in the implementation of the systems. The membership thus consisted of representatives of the Central Bank, each of the commercial banks, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Ministry of Finance (Treasury Division).more