The Bank of Jamaica is getting frustrated with Jamaica’s banks.
Despite spending years promoting JAM-DEX and even offering to pay half the cost of upgrading payment systems, the central bank says progress has been far too slow.
At BOJ’s latest quarterly press briefing, Governor Richard Byles openly expressed disappointment with how long it’s taking financial institutions to make their point-of-sale machines compatible with JAM-DEX.
The line has been there for two years now and we think that it shouldn’t take much longer to get it done.
-Richard Byles, Governor, Bank of Jamaica
The comments come as the Bank of Jamaica pushes ahead with plans to modernise how Jamaicans make payments.
And if you’ve ever driven from ATM to ATM looking for cash, only to find machines down or empty, BOJ says that’s exactly part of the problem.
According to the central bank, Jamaica’s dependence on cash is putting significant pressure on the country’s ATM network.
If every adult Jamaican is going to an ABM to withdraw maybe ten or fifteen thousand dollars…you’d need to increase the capacity of ABMs by about four.
-Dr. Jide Lewis.
Deputy Governor, Bank of Jamaica
In other words, if Jamaicans continue relying heavily on cash, the country would need roughly four times more ATM capacity to keep up with demand.
BOJ believes digital payments can help solve that problem.
The central bank says Jamaica National will become the first institution to retrofit its point-of-sale machines to accept JAM-DEX by July. Other financial institutions are expected to follow later.
And to encourage adoption, BOJ says it’s willing to cover up to 50 percent of the cost of upgrading those machines.
The goal is to make digital payments easier, faster and more widely accepted across the country, reducing the need for cash while easing pressure on banks’ ATM networks.
And that’s the Bottom Line.
What do you think? Should Jamaica move faster toward digital payments, or do you still prefer using cash?
