ABOUT US

Who we are

MISSION STATEMENT

Owned by the clearing banks of The Bahamas, the Bahamas Automated Clearing House is committed to serving the domestic retail banking industry directly and the business community at large by bringing integrity to the payment settlement process, increasing efficiency of participating banks, enabling e-commerce and advancing The Bahamas’ attractiveness to investment by adding credibility to retail banking, thus protecting and enhancing shareholder value for publicly-held financial institutions. BACH is further committed to carrying out such technology-dependent tasks without prejudice to any institution and with the highest degree of professionalism while maintaining the core banking values of confidentiality and reliability.

VISION STATEMENT

In accordance with BACH’s objective of staying relevant in a changing environment, our aim is to contribute to mutual understanding, exchange, and cooperation between the different entities in the payments & financial services eco-system.

Our ongoing commitment to superior service, innovative connectivity, and intuitive technology will expand our relationships for generations to come.

Our Vision of value delivery, revenue growth, and network security is undergirded with a culture of continual service improvement given the evolution of the payment eco-system and the ACH.

Bahamas Automated Clearing House (BACH LTD) History:

The genesis of The Bahamas Automated Clearing House (BACH) began with the initiative to modernize the national payment systems in The Bahamas. As a result, in 2004, the Bahamas’ Inter-Bank Settlement System (BISS) and real-time gross settlement system (RTGS) eco-systems were born. The goal was to interweave the seven (7) clearing banks (CBA) and the Central Bank of The Bahamas (CBoB) to electronically transmit and settle large value payments among each other on a real-time basis.

In January 2010, The Bahamas Automated Clearing House opened its doors. Its introduction impacted every bank account holder who deposited money and transacted cheques, reducing transaction times from five (5) days to a single day, allowing for next-day clearing of Bahamian dollar cheques through BACH confidential systems. Furthermore, businesses and individuals who conducted their business through the clearing banks enhanced their capacity and functionality. For example, employers directly deposited funds into employees’ accounts at any clearing bank. In addition, with the inclusion of the interbank transfers, Bahamians were able to transfer from and to all the seven (7) clearing banks seamlessly.

The Bahamas Automated Clearing House has revolutionized banking in The Bahamas since 2010, with continued growth throughout the years. BACH is poised to embrace the ever-changing financial market bringing the best-in-class to The Bahamas with emerging technologies.

In October 2021, BACH finished its critical infrastructure upgrade project and transitioned to production. Indeed, completing the Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) project signified the end of a complex but successful project for the BACH team and management. The objective of this upgrade was to design a newer, more agile, virtual, secure, and scalable infrastructure platform alongside upgrading our core software. The project’s successes were multifaceted, and we will highlight three (3).

  • Continuity – Removing business exposure with complete dependency on the same Hurricane belt.
  • Virtual Environment – Becoming robust, scalable, and agile for future growth.
  • Core Software Solution – Obtaining the latest full release, including the newest products and services.

The environments are certified SOC Tier IV centers with robust redundancy and audit controls. Therefore, BACH is poised to embrace the ever-changing financial market bringing the best-in-class to The Bahamas with emerging technologies.