As consumers welcome the Bank of Jamaica’s (BOJ) minimum service standards for automated banking machines (ABMs), different deposit-taking institutions (DTIs) have opened arms to the BOJ’s move as they go about expanding their ABM fleet across the island.

The BOJ issued the new standards on April 2 and gave DTIs a nine-month window until the start of 2025 to fully adjust to the new guidelines. Further to this announcement, the BOJ published its first ABM performance report on April 5 covering January 2024. That report revealed that of the 891 ABMs in Jamaica, 830 ABMs were in operation with an average 95.7 per cent uptime.

“National Commercial Bank Jamaica Limited (NCB) supports the establishment of collective standards on ABM operations. We are committed to making continued investment in our network and making the effort to improve and maintain cash availability and service levels on the channel. Like several other deposit-taking institutions (DTIs), NCB was included in the consultation on the proposed standards. We maintain ongoing discussions on how they can be further refined to ensure optimal performance outcomes,” said Dannielle Cameron-Duncan, NCB’s vice-president of Payment & Digital Channels Division, in an e-mailed response to the Jamaica Observer.

NCB currently has the largest ABM fleet in Jamaica with 307 ABMs, of which 297 ABM’s were in operation as of January. This is a relative reduction from the 326 ABMs it had in January 2023.

However, the NCB VP noted that there are now 299 ABMs in operation and that the bank intends to deploy another 18 machines in the coming months to key high-traffic rural area locations and that it will also be upgrading/replacing 96 machines over the next two years in order to improve availability, capability and access to cash.

“There are certain standards outlined that NCB already complies with, but there are others that require further investment by both the bank and its vendor partners. Further planning is also required to identify the most effective way to operationalise these changes while mitigating any potential security risks and costs. NCB is evaluating options to further expand the ABM network by 25-50 units in rural areas to facilitate greater access to cash; this would be subject to alignment on opportunities to reduce the investment and operational costs of ownership through partnerships,” Cameron-Duncan added.

The move to implement ABM standards comes after a year when customers complaint about non-working ABMs crescendoed, and was exacerbated by criminals who sought to steal the cash meant to replenish the ABMs from couriers. Those events significantly impacted cash availability for regular consumers who also suffered with reduced ABMs due to vandalism and crime as well. Finance Minister Dr Nigel Clarke removed the General Consumption Tax (GCT) on approved cash courier businesses importing armoured vehicles in excess of the CIF (cost, insurance and freight) value of US$33,000. This was complemented by the fact that any additional costs to armour a vehicle not being subject to GCT.

“We welcome the guidelines. Prior to the promulgation of these guidelines, we were proactively implementing several of these measures to ensure optimal uptime of our 145 ATMs across the country. We have engaged our partner, MC Systems, to acquire new ATMs, which are faster and reliable, to replace machines that have reached end of life or that can no longer meet the requirements of the location,” said JN Bank Limited, which is planning to introduce a new series of machines to replace those which experience repeated downtime.

JN Bank was reported to have had 143 ABMs in operation in January with an average 91.13 per cent uptime. The BOJ defined uptime as the duration (during a 24-hour period) that the machine is operational and available for use for cash transactions. Only the VM Building Society’s average recovery time during the month was absent while Citibank NA was not included in the ABM performance report.

The Market Conduct & Consumer Protection Thematic Working Group, which consists of the BOJ and Financial Services Commission (FSC), were involved in setting the minimum ABM standards.

“CIBC Caribbean (FCIBJ) along with the other DTIs have been in consultation with the Bank of Jamaica Governor and his team over the past few months. This collaboration was necessary in order to develop the basic framework for the ‘Standards’ that were recently released. We do not have an issue with the guidelines, as we believe in ensuring the public [our clients] get the best in class standard of service via whatever channel they choose to conduct their financial transactions,” said Nigel Holness, managing director of FirstCaribbean International Bank (Jamaica) Limited.

Holness added, “We have seen a significant increase in transactions conducted via our ABM network, and have embarked on a strategy to ensure our machines are well maintained, remain best in class to deliver quality service and reliability/convenience and are located in strategic areas that best suit our client needs. We invested heavily in new ABMs in 2023, both in terms of replacement of machines that are at the end of cycle, as well as increasing the fleet predominantly in branches. Our strategy remains the same for 2024 and beyond, and we have for this calendar year a total of 17 ABMs being replaced/upgraded, plus an additional seven new machines, some of which are already being outfitted to be available to our clients.”

While many persons welcome the standards, different users on X, formerly Twitter, questioned the measurement of the BOJ’s standards for uptime versus their experiences in the public domain. Some users noted having to drive all over a city seeking a working ABM at various times during the month. This led to Deandrew Moore creating the
ATMFinderJa mobile application in order for users to crowdsource information on working ABMs.

“Having reviewed the standards developed by the BOJ, further to the motion that has been tabled in Parliament and was approved, it represents a reasonable first cut and I want to commend the BOJ for responding within the time frame that they have to have promulgated these sets of standards that will indeed provide some protection to ATM users. It will help to ensure that the greater reliability of accessing cash from the machines and the general use of the ATMs and particularly, in light of the number of branch closures by much of the deposit-taking institutions,” stated Fitz Jackson, Member of Parliament for St Catherine Southern, on the BOJ’s ABM standards.

While praising the BOJ, Jackson wants for more information regarding the non-financial penalties for breaches of the standards, the supervisory consequences and to what extent any action by the BOJ can act as an effective deterrent for DTI breaches.

Different commercial banks have moved to curb the level of freeness by their clients over the years at their ABMs. NCB, JMMB Bank (Jamaica) Limited and JN Bank customers now have their first four ABM withdrawals for the month at their respective bank’s proprietary ABMs before being subject to a $25-$30 fee for additional withdrawals. FCIB Jamaica and VMBS charge no fees to their customers using their proprietary ABMs. First Global Bank Limited charges $30 at their proprietary ABM’s while Bank of Nova Scotia Jamaica Limited (BNSJ) charges $25-$50 per withdrawal at their proprietary ABMs depending on the account used for the transaction. Sagicor Bank Jamaica Limited charges $34.55 per withdrawal at their proprietary ABMs but offers no withdrawal fees for users of a particular savings account. Seniors experience some level of no fees or reduced withdrawal fees at different bank ABM’s while any withdrawal by customers at their bank’s non-proprietary ABMs are usually charged at the applicable Multilink rate.