Both Sides of The Coin: The Story of The Central Bank of Barbados 1972-2017

137 Bank was scheduled to host in 1997; the design and hosting of the page were outsourced. The first site was launched on June 15, 1996. However, it contained very basic information and a redesigned and upgraded site was launched in May 1998 with the domain name centralbank.org.bb . It included sections on Bank services, the special schemes, outreach programmes, publications, economic data, press releases and news items. Further improvements to the site were made in 2000. In addition to general information, visitors could now access statistical data, full texts of economic press releases, listings of the Sir Winston Scott Memorial Lectures, listing of Working Papers going back to 1996 and information on the Frank Collymore Hall. The Hall launched its own website in January 2001 under the domain name FCH.org.bb. It portrayed images of activities held there, a showcase of some aspects of the arts and a calendar of events. However, there were challenges with updating both websites arising from shortages of staff. In fact, an assessment of 10 websites of regional central banks in late 2001 found the Bank’s website to be “deficient in the areas of relevance of content, ease of use and timeliness of economic data”. 80 In an effort to deal with these shortcomings very extensive upgrades of the main website and the FCH website took place during 2007 and 2009, respectively. One of the new features of the upgrade to the main site was the inclusion of aspects of Barbadian heritage, specifically portraits of outstanding citizens with short biographies. The ability to request bookings for use of the Hall was a timely addition to the upgraded FCH website. During 2014, work started on further upgrades and the redesigned websites were re-launched in the following year. Payment systems The Bank’s RTGS and ACH were launched in December 2002, after three years of intense planning. As a result, the Bank became the first English-speaking central bank in the Caribbean to have a modern payments system comparable to those in international financial centres. Whereas the Chapter 4: Maturity, Modernisation and Issues of Governance: 1987 and Beyond