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Financial News

Jul 2016 Financial News

Bill payments near the quarter-trillion mark

Jul 20, 2016

Jamaicans spent $17 million more on bill payments last year than the year before, to bring the value of payments for utility and other services to a grand total of $227.7 billion.

The Bank of Jamaica, (BOJ) which tracks the payments, said the 1.7 per cent uptick in volume and 1.1 per cent increase in value involved mainly cash payments.

Cash accounted for 59.9 per cent of the total bill payments processed, while debit cards accounted for 48.3 per cent of total value.

Starting August 2012, the BOJ began collecting data from bill payment companies. The bill payment market is dominated by the 140-agent network of Paymaster, which was acquired in late 2015 by the Digicel Group for an undisclosed sum.

Others are Bill Express — a GraceKennedy subsidiary —and Quick & EZ.

The BOJ’s oversight authority is covered under the Payment Clearing and Settlement Act 2010,under which it also regulates foreign exchange traders and remittance companies.

At the time of launching oversight, it was said that JPS (Jamaica Public Service) and NWC (National Water Commission) constituted 97-98 per cent of bill payments.

Around $91 billion was transmitted by way of debit cards, representing just about 13 per cent of debit card use during the year.

The central bank recorded debit card transactions valued $654.2 billion in 2015, reflecting an increase of 11.8 per cent in volume and 26.3 per cent in value, respectively, relative to 2014.

 

Source:
BY AVIA COLLINDER
collindera@jamaicaobserver.com
Business reporter 
Jamaica Observer
Wednesday July 20, 2016

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/business/Bill-payments-near-the-quarter-trillion-mark_67617