KINGSTON, Jamaica — The Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) has announced a temporary waiver of penalty charges for certain Automated Clearing House (ACH) transactions, as some deposit-taking institutions (DTIs) continue to face challenges following a major upgrade to the country’s payment messaging system.

In a public advisory, the central bank said the issues are affecting the timely crediting of Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) payments and transfers to beneficiaries’ accounts. These challenges arose after the migration from the Swift Message Type (MT) standard to the new ISO 20022 (MX) standard, which took effect on December 15, 2025.

To ease disruptions and facilitate the smooth flow of payments, the BOJ will temporarily waive the penalty fee of J$5,000 that normally applies to ACH transactions that are equal to or exceed the ACH value threshold of J$1 million. The waiver will apply from Monday, December 15, 2025, to Wednesday, December 31, 2025.

During this period, transactions above the J$1 million threshold may be processed through the ACH without attracting the usual penalty charge.

However, the central bank emphasised that the waiver applies only to the BOJ penalty and does not affect fees charged by individual deposit-taking institutions. All ACH transaction fees imposed by DTIs will remain in effect.

The BOJ said the measure is intended to provide temporary relief while institutions continue to adjust to the new ISO 20022 standard and work through outstanding operational challenges in the RTGS system.