Nov 2015 Financial News

Scotiabank now allowing cross-bank transfers (Jamaica)

Nov 16, 2015

Customers of Scotiabank Jamaica can now do transactions with clients of other local banks via its online and mobile platforms, otherwise referred to as cross-banking.

Making the announcement Friday, Jamaica's second largest commercial bank said account holders can now do third-party transfers to other banks directly from their Scotiabank deposit accounts free of charge.

"We are pleased to be able to offer our customers faster and more efficient options for the transfer of funds," said Scotiabank District Vice-President Dudley Walters in a company statement.

He said:"Retail, commercial and corporate customers, including SMEs will also greatly benefit from this introduction."

Scotiabank becomes the third retail bank to allow cross-banking. The pioneer was First Global Bank several years ago, followed by Sagicor Bank Jamaica earlier this year.

Scotia will cap cross-banking transfers at US$1,000 daily and US$7,000 monthly or the equivalent in local currency. It expects the new service to cut back on the need for customers to write cheques to customers of other banks and act as a cash-management tool for businesses. The same caps apply to its inter-branch transfers.

"It is another way for us to improve the convenience to our customers, who will no longer have to come into the branch to conduct transactions like these," said Walters. "Imagine, a small business now being able to transfer employee salaries directly into their accounts. It allows businesses to improve their cash-flow management and makes everything much more efficient" he said.

Scotia's online platform allows customers to add recipients or otherwise edit their information for inter-branch transfers. That feature will also be available for the cross-bank transfers. The bank says the fund transfers will register at the recipient bank on the same day and will be "available in minutes" if the transaction is done before 2 p.m., or otherwise become available on the next business day.

Source:
business@gleanerjm.com
Jamaica Gleaner
Sunday November 15, 2015

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/business/20151115/scotiabank-now-allowing-cross-bank-transfers