Courts Ready Cash is increasing the touchpoints with which customers can access its microfinance services as it targets further growth under its new parent company Bluestart Capital.

General manager of Bluestart Capital Atasha Bernard shared with the Jamaica Observer in an interview last Thursday that the company has expanded its “store-in-store” model to all 28 Courts stores and 11 Lucky Dollar locations.

“This represents the largest footprint of a microcredit business [in Jamaica],” she stated during the launch of the rebranded Courts Ready Cash under Bluestart Capital.

“We have carved out a space which we call kiosks, so we have dedicated people in those stores,” she outlined afterwards.

In keeping with the Microcredit Act, Unicomer Jamaica Limited, the former parent company for Courts Ready Cash, has created Bluestart Capital, under which the microfinance institution will trade. Pursuant to these changes, Courts Ready Cash received a licence to operate as a microcredit institution from the Bank of Jamaica 13 months after first submitting its application.

Having become regularised, Bernard explained that the aim of Bluestart Capital is to strengthen its compliance and governance frameworks to maintain the licence. When asked how the financier will navigate the strict know-your-customer and anti-money laundering requirements outlined in the regulations, she pointed out that Courts Ready Cash will continue to perform the various levels of due diligence — simple, standard, and enhanced — based on the applicant’s credit and risk profiles.

“But we do promote financial inclusion, so persons who are self-employed or not formally employed, we are still expected to still have those customers being served,” the general manager informed Sunday Finance.

While noting that those who are self-employed or informally employed may be among those without bank accounts and so cannot provide proof of income, Bernard added that Courts Ready Cash can effect lending by vetting other forms of documentation that prove that applicants are engaged in business and are earning money.

Still, as the company looks to target even more individuals who “are either unserved or underserved by the commercial banking sector”, Courts Ready Cash will begin leveraging technology to meet the needs of its customers. Recently, the microcredit institution began using a new credit platform that facilitates the approval of loans in two minutes.

On this note, Bernard asserted that the company was not just strengthening its physical footprint but also its digital footprint “through the platforms we have”.