As consumers continue to tackle fraud, more commercial banks are enabling consumers to freeze/block their cards through digital means instead of having to wait to contact the bank to do the same on their card or account.

Card freezing has been around for a decade and has helped contain the associated risks that comes with losing your debit or credit card. This feature has had prominence in the North American and European markets where banks are able to quickly deploy these technological additions.

Now, more Jamaican banks are giving customers the option to freeze their cards, with National Commercial Bank Jamaica Limited (NCBJ) being the latest bank to expand on this option. While NCBJ allowed customers to freeze their credit cards and prepaid cards on https://managemycard.jncb.com/, a recent update to the NCBJ mobile application now enables customers to freeze both debit and credit cards from the app.

This is a crucial addition for debit card holders, who make up most card users in Jamaica. Bank of Jamaica’s March 2024 payments report revealed that there were 3,566,527 Jamaican-dollar (JMD) debit cards issued in Jamaica relative to 419,153 JMD credit cards — in other words, there is one credit card for every nine debit cards in the marketplace.

“The NCB virtual card is a free, secure, and easy way to conduct purchases using a digital card instead of a physical card, online or in-store, by adding it to the NCB Pay Mobile wallet – our new, digitised payment solution that allows secure and easy payment at any point of sale [POS] machine from your phone,” reads NCBJ’s Manage My Card website. https://managemycard.jncb.com/

Bank of Nova Scotia Jamaica Limited (BNSJ) only offers customers the option to block/freeze their credit cards, with debit card users still having to contact customer care to request this service if their debit card is compromised. However, BNSJ is the only local bank to offer customers the ability to set transaction limits on their cards — which can be done for international and online transactions. This means that if the transaction limit is set to $10,000, any transaction for $10,000.01 and above will be declined.

First Global Bank Limited (FGB) allows customers to freeze their debit and credit cards using its online Global Access platform (https://www.firstglobal-bank.com/GlobalAccessPlus), while with CIBC Caribbean Bank (Jamaica) Limited (formerly CIBC FirstCaribbean International Bank Jamaica Limited) clients can freeze both their debit and credit cards from either the mobile app or through online banking. JMMB Bank (Jamaica) clients can change their pin and cancel their debit card from the mobile banking app, but are unable to not freeze the card.

Sagicor Bank Jamaica Limited (SBJ) told customers in April that it would be shortly adding self-serve options to its online banking platform such as pin changes, card blocking or unblocking, setting transaction limits, and e-activation of cards. Credit card clients will also be able to request replacement cards via the eBank platform. There have been no major announcements by JN Bank Limited to date, with customers still awaiting the launch of its Visa debit card.

The push by banks to enable more customers to freeze their card should help reduce some of the complaints BOJ receives about fraud/impropriety — which is the second-largest complaint item after account-related issues. The Jamaica Constabulary Force’s (JCF) statistics revealed that more than $300 million in bank account losses were reported between 2021 to 2024.

This move by banks to give customers more choice in handling their affairs is the continuation of an initiative to further optimise operations and digitise customer channels. Earlier this year, JMMB Group Limited, BNSJ and CIBC Caribbean Bank Limited launched online onboarding for new customers across their respective markets. This move not only complemented the ability of existing customers to open new accounts but also sought to reduce traffic in branches to open new accounts.

Several Jamaican banks are currently working on online loan application platforms, with CIBC Caribbean’s loan store garnering significant traction within the last two years across the Caribbean. This is on top of more banks introducing real time alerts for transactions, with CIBC Caribbean (Jamaica) noting that it will introduce real time ATM alerts on November 29, which will also align with BOJ’s new minimum ABM standards.

With Apple Pay and Samsung Pay to make waves in the Jamaican market over the next two years via different banks, consumers will get more alternatives to securely pay for transactions as contactless mobile phone transactions are more secure, thanks to tokenisation. Some banks in recent times have also increased their contactless limit above $5,000 for physical debit and credit cards.