JNBS Introduces Swipe and Go, eliminating Bank Books - Secret of Wings for a Cashless Society in Jamaica

“Now that the Society is ISO 9001:2008 certified, our members will be demanding exceptional customer service and the swipe-card technology is one of several initiatives that we are rolling out”

Excerpt from comments by JN Enterprise Contact Centre Representative, Michele Pollard-Gonzalez, on Sunday November 25 2012

JNBS (Jamaica National Building Society) has introduced yet another innovation on the step towards Jamaica becoming a Cashless Society. This as they’ve apparently begun to go Bank Account Book-less first in a system dubbed “Swipe and Go” as note in the article “JNBS introduces swipe-card technology”, published Sunday, November 25, 2012, The Jamaica Observer. 

For the lovers of Official Press Releases, here’s the official announcement on JNBS’ website entitled “JNBS introduces Swipe Card Technology”, Posted on November 22, 2012 by jnbs_admin, JNBS.

The new system at JNBS, for those Jamaicans who already have a BNS (Bank of Nova Scotia) aka ScotiaBank Jamaica Accounts, should be quite familiar. Very interesting development at JNBS, as after attaining ISO 9001:2008Certification, JNBS had to truly “turn it up a notch” and is offering polished services of an International Standard. In the process, they’ll benefit via a decrease in the length of Teller Lines and an increase in the amount of Transactions they process daily.

This derived from the quote by JN Enterprise Contact Centre Representative, Michele Pollard-Gonzales above. It’ll also reduce the long lines in the Building Society and introduce the convenience of accessing your funds at any branch aside from the one your account was signed, again another revealing quote from Michele Pollard-Gonzales: “Members can access funds easily, as they will simply swipe the card, put in their PIN number, and the teller will then manage the movement of funds at their request......When you go to a branch that is not your servicing branch, as long as you enter your PIN after you swipe, the transaction will be processed”.

But this can also be seen as a test run by a Local Building Society for the idea of a Cashless Society such as exists in Sweden as noted in “In Sweden, Cash Is King No More In Sweden, Cash Is King No More” Published Monday  March 19, 2012, The Jamaica Gleaner.

With the removal of the Bank Account Book from the accessing of Funds, customer will eventually be grandfathered towards using Internet Banking on their Laptops, Tablets and Smartphones to check on their Bank Account Balances and do transactions as predicted in my  blog article entitled “CIBC FirstCaribbean Jamaica and First Global introduce Cross-Network Banking - The Avengers for the idea of a Cashless Society and Banking Anywhere”.

I’ve got my fingers crossed for this one folks;  in this push for Bank Account book-less, it’s hoped that they’ll also introduce the more secure NFC (Near Field Communication) as described in my blog article entitled “NFC now supports Device-to-device Data Transfers – Swapping Music in the Castle of My Skin”. This is technology similar to Swipe Cards used among the various Banks, Telecom Providers such as LIME and Digicel and Call Centers such as ACCENT Marketing to guard Access to Sensitive Areas such as the Production Floor.

In the process, they’ll phase out Plastic Debit and Credit Cards, as they’re vulnerable to cloning. Instead, they'll be replaced by NFC-enabled Debit or Credit Cards or better yet, smartphones as predicted in as I had predicted in my blog article entitled “Google Wallet & Offers vs Square & PayPal - SME's International FlashDance”.

Eventually by that time Cross-Network Banking will become Standardized among Banks, Credit Unions, building Societies and other lending agencies as my blog article above suggests, attracting more of the Unbanked to create Bank Accounts by 2015. Hopefully too, by that time, Telecom Providers would have rolled out 4G LTE to facilitate VoIP and Messaging Services powered by Avaya Networks as prognosticated in my blog article entitled “Digicel and Avaya Communications launch Avaya Aura for SME's - LIME and Digicel in a Step Up Revolution towards GSM Voice Extinction”.

Meanwhile GSM Voice, GPRS and EDGE Services will be free or used for M2M (Machine-to-Machine) Services among ATM Machines, Laptops, Smartphones and Tablets as noted in my blog article entitled “Telecom Provider LIME and M2M Services - Free SMS and EDGE for the Caribbean to Foster Regional Integration”.

It’s now up to the BOJ (Bank of Jamaica) to observer these developing trends in the Banking World and create legislative framework to regulate them and prevent Money Laundering, as they’ll no doubt catch on:

1.      Increasing use of ATM (Automated Teller Machines) islandwide to access funds

2.      Increasing use of Internet Banking Options on Laptops, Smartphones and Tablets

3.      Increasing Interest in E-Commerce and the needs to have Merchant Credit Card Accounts

4.      Increasing need for Cross-Bank Transfers among Residential Customers

5.      Increasing need for the Adoption of Cash Registers as a requirement among SME (Small and Medium enterprise) to be effectively taxed

This standardization, along with the increasing adoption of Laptops, Tablets and Smartphones by Jamaicans will eventually be the Secret of the Wings (2012) to bring about the much desired Cashless Society by Credit Unions and Banks as described in my blog article entitled “Mozido Jamaica Limited and Mobile Payments - Plants and Zombies say the Gods must be Crazy” and my blog article entitled “JCCUL JCUES is put on hold by the BOJ - ePayment setback means Mozido has been Bewitched”,  which would encompass both the Banked and the unbanked in Jamaica.