SAGICOR Group Jamaica Limited (SJ) is the latest financial player to indicate its intention to roll out a digital wallet to handle Jamaica’s central bank digital currency (CBDC), Jam-Dex.

This was confirmed by Sagicor Group President and Chief Executive Officer Christopher Zacca last Friday at the 10th annual general meeting (AGM) held at Jamaica Pegasus hotel; Sagicor Bank Jamaica Limited is its wholly owned commercial banking subsidiary which would be involved in the CBDC project.

“That’s definitely part of our priority and a digital wallet is in production. It is being developed in our agile labs, as well as the adoption of CBDC, so a lot more [is] to come by the end of this year,” said Zacca.

SJ’s 2022 annual report mentioned that the acquisition of Alliance Financial Services Limited (AFSL) would fit into that remit of the group’s plans to develop products around prepaid cards and digital wallets. Jam-Dex is one-to-one with the Jamaican Dollar.

TFOB (2021) Limited, which operates the Lynk mobile application, was the first entity to be approved by the Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) to distribute Jam-Dex. The NCB Financial Group subsidiary has been the primary avenue for CBDC to be released to the public. Last year the first 100,000 users to apply for Jam-Dex on Lynk received $2,500 Jam-Dex in their individual digital wallets, with additional incentives launched this year for Jam-Dex usage.

The first 10,000 small businesses that received five payments in Jam-Dex after March 31 received a one-off government payment of $25,000 Jam-Dex, with regular Jam-Dex users receiving two per cent back on Jam-Dex purchases each month, up to a maximum of $5,000 spent monthly. According to the BOJ’s website there are 2,379 merchants who accept Jam-Dex as payment across the island.

JN Bank Limited’s JN Pay Wallet was approved by the BOJ in January as the second approved CBDC wallet. JN Bank was issued $1 million Jam-Dex to facilitate the roll-out, with the digital wallet being at an advanced stage to distribute Jam-Dex to the public later this year. $257 million Jam-Dex was in issue at the end of 2022 according to the BOJ’s reserves.

Other commercial banks have indicated some interest in developing digital wallets for CBDC but all are at varying stages of their own programmes. The Bank of Nova Scotia Jamaica Limited had indicated last December that it was aiming to deliver a CBDC in late 2023.

“It’s quite a complex project and we expect to have delivery towards the end of the new calendar year. We’ve been working closely with the central bank and with our technology and operations team, and we’ve made significant progress,” said Scotia Group President and CEO Audrey Tugwell Henry at a December briefing.

JMMB Bank (Jamaica) Limited had been exploring CBDC options in a June update last year, while First Global Bank (FGB) Limited (FGB) had indicated plans to launch a wallet in late 2022. FGB has yet to provide a recent update on these plans, with shareholders set to possibly receive an update at GraceKennedy Limited’s AGM today.

“In 2023 the key focus of our financial group will be to pursue operational efficiency within FGB by expanding the bank’s digital platform and capabilities. We will continue to invest in our digital transformation and advancing our environmental, social, and governance agenda whilst also exploring new organic and inorganic opportunities to expand our business and enhance our offerings,” said GK’s 2022 annual report.