JN Bank enters BOJ sandbox

Durrant Pate/Contributor

The Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) has set a target of December 2023 for full participation of the local banking sector to its JAM-DEX Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC).

During the months of July and August 2022, the BOJ testified before the Public Administration and Appropriation (PAAC) of Parliament last week, several person-to-person transactions were executed using JAM-DEX.

JAM-DEX was launched on July 11 through the Lynk app, a digital wallet from National Commercial Bank which is currently the only transaction platform for Jamaicans to use the CBDC.

A major motivating factor behind the launch of JAM-DEX was to further enable easy and secure access to digital financial products and services by all Jamaicans, thus supporting the Government’s National Financial Inclusion and Digitisation Strategies.

The NCB’s Lynk wallet facilitated other activities such as transfers to accounts, bill payments, conducting mobile top-ups and cash-in and cash-out at ABMs.

New mobile wallet from JN Bank

It has been disclosed that another bank, JN Bank, entered the BOJ Sandbox on September 1 to test a mobile wallet that will facilitate the distribution of JAM-DEX. The BOJ Sandbox is a platform to encourage innovations in local financial services and to promote competition and financial inclusion.

Based on the various stages of readiness of eligible wallet providers, the BOJ plans to implement certain measures to drive participation of all banks by the end December 2023.

In addition, the Central Bank of Jamaica told the PAAC that it was exploring with the various agencies of Government, such as the Ministry of Labour and Social Security and the Constituency Development Fund (CDF), to use JAM-DEX to facilitate payments.

Two constituencies have been selected for a pilot for the CDF in the last quarter of this financial year.