EXISTING electronic retail payment services have been given until year-end to fully comply with central bank guidelines.

“We are just giving them additional time, because some of them have been operating for some time,” said Livingstone Morrison, deputy governor of the Bank of Jamaica (BOJ). “It’s not a big deal, it’s to be fair and work with the entities.”

Under the Guidelines for Electronic Retail Payment Services, existing electronic retail payment services – issuers who collected monies in exchange for value distributed in a retail system – were required to structure their organisations, administrative arrangements, and operations relating to pre-existing electronic retail payment services.

Meanwhile, deposit-taking institutions, including issuers that were jointly providing the services with entities that were not previously authorised, were instructed to take immediate steps to secure authorisation from the BOJ.

They were previously given a September 30 deadline.

But Morrison said he couldn’t give a count of the entities that fall under the “existing electronic retail payment services” as it could be later found that firms that were considered to be operating didn’t fall within the definition of “existing entities”.

The Central Bank is responsible for the regulation and supervision of clearing and settlement systems in Jamaica. All entities intending to offer electronic retail payment services are subject to the guidelines and are required to apply to the central bank for authorisation before starting operations.

Meanwhile, the Bank is still assessing the submissions of new entities that want authorisation, but could not say if any will be given before year-end.

Seven entities applied but the Jamaica Co-operative Credit Union League (JCCUL) is the only company that can roll out phase one of its services — Jamaica Credit Union e-payment Services System (JCUES), which includes bill payment, bill enquiries and mobile phone top-ups.

Select credit union members, through JCUES, will be able to make bill payments to National Water Commission and Flow with web-enabled devices, including cellular phones with GPRS, smartphones, tablets, and computers. They will also be able to conduct mobile top- ups for LIME and Digicel.

When these companies that want to offer services, which include e-money stored in a device such as a mobile phone and SIM card get authorisation, a new wave of doing business will be made available to those without bank accounts.

It means that Jamaicans who don’t have bank accounts will soon be able to carry out transactions using a cashless system.

Furthermore, these payment instruments and services will make paying for goods and services easier.