NATIONAL Commercial Bank Jamaica Limited (NCBJ) is accelerating its initiatives to broaden digital payments acceptance in the Jamaican marketplace while introducing new solutions to reduce cash usage for some of its larger clients.

This was a key talking point at NCB Financial Group Limited’s (NCBFG) May 9 investor briefing by Danielle Cameron Duncan, NCBJ’s vice-president of the payments and digital channels division. NCBJ has an estimated 70 per cent market share of the country’s issued point-of-sale (POS) terminals and one-third the market share of the 903 automated banking machines (ABMs) at the end of February — the most installed ABMs of any commercial bank. This large market presence translates to NCBJ processing transaction values beyond the 11-figure region.

NCBJ has been working with different companies, along with building its own digital payment solutions, to strengthen its payments framework. It is currently working with TransJamaican Highway Limited (TJH) to further digitise its transactions at toll booths. TJH is the concessionaire and operator of Highway 2000 East-West.

TJH began accepting debit and credit cards at the toll booths around March 2024 when it was equipped with POS terminals from NCBJ. Previously, customers had to pay with cash or have a T-Tag with a balance to go through the toll booth. Now, customers can tap their debit or credit card at the toll booth and continue moving.

“On the TransJamaican Highway project we’re really excited about that [project] that was launched over a year ago, groundbreaking work in terms of enabling card transactions to be paid at TransJamaican Highway tolls. We have seen a significant increase in transactions — almost three times the current transaction since that launch,” Duncan added on the TJH project.

TJH is now working to integrate their internal systems with NCBJ’s payment solutions so as to improve the efficiency of payments and transactions. This is on top of an ongoing project with NCBJ to allow for TJH customers to use their card at a toll booth to make the payment, without the input of a toll collector. The eventual aim of this initiative is to allow for ‘open tolling’ where a POS terminal would be mounted at the booth and allow customers “tap and go” on Highway 2000. This information was detailed in TJH’s 2024 annual report.

TJH’s Managing Director Ivan Anderson told shareholders at the June 2023 annual general meeting (AGM) that the company’s eventual aim is to move to 80 per cent cashless transactions by 2028. TJH processed 61 per cent of its toll transactions in 2022 by cash, which translated to US$39 million ($5.9 billion). TJH’s revenue has since grown from US$65 million in 2022 to US$83 million ($12.8 billion) in 2024, with 28.6 million vehicles processed by the company last year.

NCBJ is also looking to beef up its other digital initiatives for its retail and merchant base. TFOB (2021) Limited, a NCBFG subsidiary, is currently awaiting approval from the Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) to launch a virtual Visa card in the Lynk mobile wallet app. This offering will complement the bank’s NCB Pay mobile app which was launched in March 2023 to allow its customers to connect their debit card or credit card and pay at physical POS terminals with their mobile phone.

“Attached to that is the ability to do contactless transactions utilising the Lynk platform on any point-of-sale machine as well as doing e-commerce transactions. We’re really excited about launching that [option]; we are just awaiting the BOJ approval to move forward with it. It’s really going to facilitate our Lynk users doing a lot more transactions with the balances that they have in their Lynk wallet.

Lynk was launched in December 2021 as the first digital wallet to handle Jam-Dex, Jamaica’s central bank digital currency. Lynk has since become another payment processing option which can be used at physical merchants or online merchants like CaribTix or QuickCart. Lynk began accepting remittances in March 2023 with MoneyGram, along with Western Union in partnership with GraceKennedy in May 2024. With BOJ and the Government seeking to improve financial inclusion, persons can use their Lynk wallet and Jam-Dex digital currency for certain transactions at Tax Administration Jamaica (TAJ).

NCBJ also launched ePOS in June 2024 to allow for its SME customers to turn their mobile phone or tablet into a payment acceptance tool. That is on top of its partnership with Fygaro for its e-commerce solution which also includes virtual point-of-sale (vPOS). This push to digital payments comes against the backdrop of nearly four-fifths of transactions being done by cash, and new digital payment offerings being limited in the marketplace. CIBC Caribbean Bank Limited is set to launch its own ePOS-like solution in short order with Fygaro.

NCBFG’s payments segment recorded a 10 per cent rise in revenue to $19 billion due to improved fees and commission income from higher transaction volumes and values for the six-month period ending March 31, 2025. The total operating income grew 16 per cent to $9.2 billion, with operating profit rising 40 per cent from $1.4 billion to $1.95 billion.