NCB closes more branches, banks on ‘cashless’ model
KINGSTON, Jamaica — The National Commercial Bank Jamaica Limited (NCB) says it will be closing its Half Moon, Annotto Bay and Chapelton agencies while continuing the rollout of the branch operating model where cash transactions are facilitated exclusively via 24/7 alternate channels such as the iABMs and drop boxes in its “Bank on the Go” areas.
The company said it expects a total of 14 locations to have adopted this model by the end of July.
While the bank started this programme in 2019 ahead of the local onset of the COVID-19 virus, CEO Septimus Blake said that the changes are now even more timely given the emergence of new norms like physical distancing, and the demand for more digital channels.
“Although this initiative started long before we started dealing with COVID-19 in Jamaica, the prevalence of physical distancing and a number of other emerging global trends has forced us to confront the reality that we will have to make some serious changes to the way we operate,” Blake noted.
“For instance, our customer experience can no longer be characterised by long lines and complex processes. Instead, we must deliver ease, speed, convenience, stability, security and delightfulness to our customers. This is what they expect, and what they deserve,” he continued.
Blake also divulged that a pilot of the ‘cashless’ operation resulted in several much needed improvements in customer experience and efficiency in the pilot branches.
“From this pilot, we saw where migration of cash transactions to alternate channels enabled our team to provide better customer service, and increased their capacity to have more personalised and meaningful connections with our customers. Better yet, we are now able to help our customers make better decisions and financial planning for critical times like these,” Blake said.
According to Blake, NCB is also continuously looking at ways to improve banking on all its platforms. Of such improvements is the NCB Mobile App – which features bill payment, transfers, and biometric login, was recently upgraded to include transfers to other banks.
