The promised future, which includes remittances sent from abroad landing directly on an app or wallet on your mobile phone, or sent to a special debit card issued for the purpose, is not yet here and won’t be until the Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) gives its approval.

In an update, the BOJ told the Jamaica Observer that no card or e-payment solution currently offers remittance loading.

The status, the central bank explained, is determined by current regulations and approvals. According to the BOJ, “The operating directions for remittance companies does not allow for the remittance companies to issue cards or any stored value instrument for the loading of remittance proceeds.”

However, it was noted, “remittance proceeds may be disbursed to an account in the name of the remittance recipient operated by a deposit-taking institution (DTI) or to pre-paid card/wallet in the name of the recipient issued by a payment service provider operating in the BOJ sandbox. For the latter, explicit approval is required from BOJ for remittance loading.”

The BOJ disclosed that one company has in fact applied for remittance loading for the current year. The company name was not shared. If approved, clients will be able to receive funds from overseas direct to their card or wallet

The central bank explained, “Explicit approval is required from BOJ for remittance loading on non-DTI prepaid cards or wallets. Each application is assessed on its own merit prior to approval/denial.

E-payments are a growing business in Jamaica. The addition of remittances sent straight to the digital wallet could cause an acceleration. The BOJ, which regulates the market, indicates that transactions in 2021 were valued at $26.86 billion, an increase of 26 per cent over 2020 when transactions were valued at $21.29 billion.

The central bank also said that e-payment transactions in 2021 were 129 per cent over the $11.69 billion which were made by e-card or e-payment in 2019.

E-payment products are linked to mobile apps and payment cards used for electronic transactions.

The operations of the dominant sector player in the e-payments market, Alliance Financial Services Limited (AFS), fizzled at the end of 2021 under a regulatory crackdown.

Other companies in the finance space are seeking to take over and grow the affected business lines, including e-payment services.

The BOJ defines e-money as referring to electronically, including magnetically, stored monetary value on any device or instrument or server as represented by a claim on the Payment Service Provider (PSP) which is issued on receipt of funds for the purpose of making payments and which is accepted as a means of payment by persons.

At year end 2021 the two companies authorised by BOJ as mobile wallet providers were the National Commercial Bank (NCB) Jamaica Limited and Sagicor Bank Jamaica Limited.

At year end 2021, AFS, which was another e-payments provider, had its license revoked.

Cards issued by DTIs are regulated under the Banking Services Act. Authorised payment service providers (non-DTI entities) are regulated under the Payments Clearing and Settlement Act, 2010 (PCSA, 2010) and the Fintech Regulatory Sandbox (Sandbox) Guidelines.

The guidelines include governance arrangements, consumer protection, risk management controls, reporting and monitoring requirements.

Transaction volume in 2021 was 14.3 million, an improvement of 89 per cent over 2020 when 7.3 million transactions were registered.

Transaction volumes in 2021 were a 155 per cent improvement over 2019, when 5.6 million transactions were registered.

In February 2022, JMMB Group Limited indicated that it had inked a deal with with Norbrook Transaction Services Limited, a subsidiary of Norbrook Equity Partners (NEP) to offer its own electronic payment.