PAYMASTER, the island’s first bill payment company, is now seeking to beat back competition by adding value through its digital channel.

The company told the Jamaica Observer that with upgrades, usage of its services is once again on the upswing. It is also considering entering other markets with its brick and mortar presence. Meanwhile, its digital reach has increased in the last two years.

Paymaster claims 28 per cent of the Jamaican third-party bill payment service market, noting, “We have seen significant growth in registrations, based on the proven convenience of our secure website and payment portal.”

“By going digital, our customers’ JPS, Digicel and Flow bill payments are updated in 45-60 minutes. We have also reduced the time to recharge a Highway 2000 toll card from 24 hours to three hours,” the company told the Business Observer.

It was noted, “Like many other businesses, we too have been affected by the decline in consumer demand throughout the pandemic. That said, with more people opting to use digital channels to make payments, we have seen a significant increase in the utilisation of our online platform.

Diaspora

“We are also experiencing an uptick in persons in the diaspora making bill payments on behalf of their loved ones back home.”

Specific details on revenues and the number of transactions were not shared. The company may have seen mixed movements in its revenues since the onset of the novel coronavirus pandemic, but the bill payment market itself has been growing.

Bill payments climbed to over $400 billion in 2021. Total inflows at year end December 2021 was $436,814,264,826, representing 13.3 per cent increase in value over 2020 payments which totalled $385,607,734,658.

The increase in the volume of payments in 2021 was 7.1 per cent with 23,557,519 transactions recorded. The year before bill payment transactions totalled 21,985,693.

Paymaster is owned by Digicel. The telecoms acquired a majority stake in the entity in December 2015 for an undisclosed sum. The announcement came one week after Digicel acquired a controlling stake in a similar payment firm called Prism, which operated in 22 countries with offices in The Bahamas, Jamaica and Trinidad & Tobago.

Paymaster, at the time, had agent relationships with over 40,000 locations in the US and Canada. Its local competitors in Jamaica are GraceKennedy’s Bill Express. The third company is Quick & EZ Pay, operated by Prime Trust Financial Limited. All together, at last report, they operated about 321 payment windows across the island.

Paymaster said in its update that the company currently offers multi-payment services from approximately 200 locations in Jamaica. It has also widened the number of payments which can be made at its agents and on paymaster-online.com, described as a secure payment portal.

Paymaster collects for the major utilities, insurance companies and many other institutions. Within the past two years, the company has added The Mico University College and GC Foster College to its line-up of tertiary institutions for the acceptance of school fee payments.

They join similar institutions including The University of the West Indies (Mona), University of Technology, Jamaica, Caribbean Maritime University, Northern Caribbean University, Excelsior Community College, Moneague Community College, and Brown’s Town Community College.

It now also accepts payments on behalf of the Transport Authority, Students’ Loan Bureau, Courts, Singer, National PC Bank, and TIP Friendly Society.

“We have also collaborated with several major distributors to collect on their behalf from retailers,” it was also noted.

Paymaster indicated that gathering restrictions and curfew hours had an immediate impact on walk-in customers, which declined by five per cent. However, this decline in footfall was mitigated by a significant increase in online bill payment activity.

It was noted, “Although our walk-in numbers are gradually seeing a return to pre-pandemic figures, the rate of online registrations and payments continues to keep pace with the gradual migration to digital platforms.

“We see this trend as a very encouraging sign, as it enables Paymaster to attract new clients who are searching for more convenient ways to accept payments from their customers using our vast network.”

The company cited as one example is the Transport Authority, which recently discontinued accepting cash payments at their offices, in favour of taking license renewal payments via Paymaster. They also collect payments on behalf of several major general insurance companies.

The company indicated that “Paymaster continues to be a Jamaican brand serving the Jamaican market, while accepting payments on behalf of local companies from persons anywhere in the world. Our mission is to continue to make improvements while we expand the range of payment channels, and offer the best service that keeps Paymaster top-of-mind,” it was stated.