The National Commercial Bank (NCB) indicated yesterday that the use of the Quisk mobile money platform by other companies will not impact its plans to sell the product as digital money available through its network.

Implemented in 2010 in Jamaica by Advanced Integrated Systems (AIS) – Quisk — to date, is at various stages of development by at least four other companies, AIS disclosed in mid-November.

In an update yesterday, Douglas Halsall, AIS chairman told the Jamaica Observer that JMMB, VMBS, Lasco Financial Services and First Heritage Co-operative Credit Union are currently planning to use Quisk.

“All financial institutions would adopt their own Quisk in the same way as is done for credit cards (so for example, JMMB Quisk, VMBS Quisk etc.). Quisk is the general brand and each bank will add their name to that in the same way that they do with credit cards,” he outlined.

He also disclosed, “AIS has also seen tremendous interest from various sectors for which improvement in operations can be made using the mobile money platform – Quisk.

“These include betting and gaming, agriculture (anti-praedial larceny), lottery, local government (virtual parking meters and market fee payments), transport, financial services, remittances, personal tax payments and several others.”

The mobile money solution was rolled out by NCB earlier this year as its primary mobile money solution.

NCB told the Business Observer, in a response channelled through its communications department, that the multiple-user feature of Quisk was similar to the model followed by international credit card issuers.

“NCB is one of a few issuers on the Quisk platform. This is similar to the model with credit cards such as Visa and Mastercard.

“Multiple institutions can issue credit cards, but each institution does their own sales and marketing to drive take-up among their customer base. We expect Quisk will follow this model,” it was stated.

NCB, although declining to share marketing spend on Quisk and actual usage numbers, said response has been strong since its launch in August 2016.

It also shared that it was working on expanding the merchant network.

NCB stated, “It is still early days, as mobile money is still new to the Jamaican market. We are in the process of expanding the merchant network on Quisk, enabling cash in and cash out at our intelligent ABMs and enabling bill payments to JPS (Jamaica Public Service Limited).

“With these additions, we are enhancing the value proposition for our customers, which will drive additional take-up and usage.”

The mobile money solution works on all local network carriers in the island and can be accessed on smartphones, iPods, tablets or the computer.

AIS markets the platform as a means of cutting transaction fees. Halsall said yesterday that Quisk can also be used to counter the problem of money laundering and provide financial inclusion for people with low incomes who generally would not have a bank account and would only spend cash.

It also provides people with a safe and convenient alternative to cash for their daily transactions, he said.

As regards marketing of the product, Halsall told the Business Observer that AIS has partnered with Quisk Inc. out of the United States and remains the technical partners for Quisk in the Caribbean (Spanish, English, Dutch and French-speaking Caribbean).

“The various issuers (banks and other financial institutions) would determine their respective budgets to market the strengths and proven successes of the platform and increase their user base once they roll out Quisk,” he commented.

He said that AIS, at ths time, is focusing its efforts on “ensuring that players in the various sectors understand how Quisk can be beneficial to their business processes and can improve accessibility to their clientele.”