JMMB Group Limited (JMMBGL) is aiming to launch its credit card offerings in Jamaica and the Dominican Republic, along with other payment solutions, in short order.

This was revealed in the group’s 2025 annual report where it explored the growth of its payment solutions under JMMB Bank (Jamaica) Limited and its other regional subsidiaries.

JMMB Group launched a Visa business debit card in Jamaica and Trinidad & Tobago in April and September 2024, respectively, while launching a Visa debit card for retail clients in the Dominican Republic in July 2024. JMMBGL also launched a co-branded school card with Norbrook Transaction Services Limited (NTS) and a prepaid gift card with Flow Jamaica during the year. These products helped to grow JMMB Bank to grow its fee income and attract low-cost demand deposit funding.

“Looking forward, having launched Merchant Acquiring Services [point-of-sale] in Jamaica the previous year, the Group will deploy this service in Trinidad & Tobago to meet the payment acceptance needs of its business clients. The Group also intends to expand its card offering for both retail and business clients with the introduction of credit cards in Jamaica and the Dominican Republic,” JMMB Group stated in its March 2025 annual report.

JMMB Group launched a payment services division during its March 2022 financial year. It also telegraphed its intentions to launch credit cards in Jamaica, T&T and the Dominican Republic in its March 2022 annual report, but this development didn’t materialise in the original timeline. One reason mentioned for the delay in previous briefings was regulatory approval from the relevant regulators in each jurisdiction.

It’s currently unknown what type of credit card will be launched, but the 2025 annual report mentioned flexibility and rewards for clients under its digital transformation report. A credit card drives greater transaction volumes to the card issuer and generates additional income from cardholders. Credit cards also feed into other business segments like point-of-sale (POS) terminals which attracts more business customers as settlement times get reduced.

The credit card and POS market is currently dominated by National Commercial Bank Jamaica Limited (NCB) and the Bank of Nova Scotia Jamaica Limited (BNS), the country’s two largest banks which control three-fifths of the commercial banking market share in the country. However, other deposit-taking institutions (DTIs) have been seeking to make their mark in the competitive credit card space.

First Global Bank Limited (FGB) formally launched its Visa Platinum Plus credit card on July 24. The VM Building Society (VMBS) which entered the credit card market with two Visa cards in November 2022 plans to launch a Jamaican-dollar Classic Visa, a USD business card, and a USD platinum card in 2026. CIBC Caribbean Bank (Jamaica) Limited launched two JetBlue branded credit cards in November 2023 while Sagicor Bank Jamaica Limited (SBJ) its PriceSmart Visa Gold credit card in mid-2022.

The Bank of Jamaica’s 2024 financial stability report revealed that credit cards continued to be the dominant payment tool as they accounted for 65.1 per cent of the total number of retail payment transactions in 2024. This was against the backdrop where 3,775,987 debit cards or 90 per cent of Jamaican dollar (JMD) cards in circulation are debit cards. There were 428,948 JMD credit cards as of September 2024.

JMMB Group expanding

JMMB Group is continuing to expand its range of digital service offerings for its clients with the Moneyline mobile application to be launched in the Dominican Republic and Trinidad and Tobago in the current financial year. The app was launched during February 2024 with features like freezing cards, pin changes and card cancellation.

The app is set to receive a new suite of upgrades which will include management of loans, certificate of deposits and trading of bonds. These enhancements are to be complemented by the roll-out of the online onboarding platform in the Dominican Republic in the current financial year. The digital onboarding solution currently for 72 per cent of new accounts in Trinidad and Jamaica in the March 2025 financial year. JMMBGL also plans to launch a fully digital process for the application of loans by clients, an addition to the automation of loan processing that was executed during 2024.

JMMBGL also continued to deploy its GlobalPay solution for clients needing to make cross-border payments and making deposits to individual bank accounts in different jurisdictions. The SmartPay solution allows micro and small businesses to make payments to their employees via the JMMB Money Transfer card which is not attached to a bank account.

JMMB Group is currently in the procurement phase for the development of two multi-storey office complexes in New Kingston and renovation and expansion of a building in downtown Kingston. JMMB Group also began generating rental income from its 102 Hope Road property during the 2025 financial year.

JMMB Group transferred the operations of its Junction, St Elizabeth business branch into the Santa Cruz, St Elizabeth location on May 30. JMMB Group also officially opened a new branch for its Trinidadian banking business on June 12 at Lowlands Mall, Tobago.