JMMB launches ePay prepaid cards
Published:Monday | February 14, 2022 | 4:41 PM
The JMMB Group, through its banking arm, will start offering ePay prepaid cards to clients as part of its effort to grow its client base.
It's the latest digital wallet type service.
“Today, we are launching lunch cards and other staff benefits for a number of employers across Jamaica,” said head of banking at JMMB, Jerome Smalling, at an investor briefing on Monday.
The service also includes transportation cards and prepaid cards.
The group will expand the card's usage to other services going forward.
These prepaid cards enable online purchasing of goods and services.
This remains a plus for Jamaicans without traditional bank accounts or those without credit cards.
Smalling said that Norbrook Transaction Services, a fintech company will provide the platform for the ePay cards.
Norbrook Transaction Services is a subsidiary of Norbrook Equity, which operates Mailpac and other brands.
Another financial entity, Alliance Financial Services, for several years offers ePay cards to clients.
Alliance still offered the service up to Monday based on online checks on its website.
JMMB's profit after tax totalled $3.3 billion between October to 31 December compared to $1.6 billion a year earlier.
The group benefited from some $7 billion in gains on securities trading during the period.
“Who would have thought that going into COVID-19 that JMMB would have produced the best results,” JMMB CEO Keith Duncan in his address.
JMMB offers financial services in Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago and the Dominican Republic.
More acquisitions are in the pipeline to diversify the group's revenue streams.
Inflation, however, remains a major challenge to continued growth, said Duncan.
He noticed that central banks in the Dominican Republic and Jamaica have already tightened up on liquidity by increasing interest rates.
“That holds implications for the investment business line,” Duncan said about its wealth and trading division, adding that higher interest rates should benefit the banking division.
“So that means we can continue growing our business lines. We can continue our core growth while pursuing our M&A strategy.”
It's a different environment going forward, added Duncan: “But we are looking to transition over the next couple of years”.
With the onset of COVID-19, the group offered clients moratoriums and loan restructuring for up to 20 per cent of its clients.
Those concessions now apply to about 5.0 per cent of clients, said Smalling.
“Delinquency remains at a manageable state and below the market average. Our delinquency remains at a low level due to partnering with clients rather than seeking to dispose of assets,” said Smalling.
Patrick Ennis, JMMB group chief financial officer, added that the banking delinquency rate hovers under 2.7 per cent or well below the problem threshold of 10 per cent.
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