NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Friday, July 22, 2016

THE Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) on Tuesday granted a licence to the Jamaica Co-operative Credit Union League (JCCUL) for Conec — the mobile wallet payment service that will allow delivery on a full commercial basis.

The JCCUL received the BOJ’s authorisation under the Guidelines for the Electronic Retail Payment Service to offer custodian account-based payment services to the public.

Heston Hutton, CEO of JaMobile — the JCCUL subsidiary which manages CONEC Mobile Wallet — said that Conec, which began with top-up services, balance enquiries and bill payment, now includes person-to-person cash transfers and merchant services. These transactions fall within within the agreed limits stipulated in the guidelines and are now available at approved agent locations.

The central bank’s approval in September 2013 for Phase 1 of the project allowed JCCUL to offer limited services to customers of the credit union movement. And, in August, 2014 the Central Bank issued an approval to the JCCUL for a Phase 2 pilot, which allowed for an extended suite of services to these customers.