JCUES now CONEC Mobile Wallet - Why CONEC Mobile Wallet still inconvenient despite Paymaster

It’s been quite awhile since I’ve kept tabs with the development of JCCUL (Jamaica Cooperative Credit Union League) and Mozido Jamaica Mobile Money partnership called JCUES (Jamaica Credit Union e-Payment Services). So for those of my fans reading this, this article is long overdue.

So I’ve got some really interesting news to report.

JCCUL has finally rebranded their JCUES with a new name CONEC Mobile Wallet at a Press Conference held at the CRU bar in Kingston on Wednesday September 24^th 2014 as stated in the article “Paymaster now point of sale for credit union's mobile wallet”, published Friday, September 26, 2014, The Jamaica Observer.

This comes a little over a year since the BOJ (Bank of Jamaica) gave the JCCUL their Mobile Money License in July 2013 as reported in my blog article entitled “JCCUL get's approval from BOJ to launch their JCUES Mobile Money Platform - JCUES Mobile Money Wolverine (2013) marks the Kick-Ass 2 (2013) beginning of a Cashless Society”, making them the first financial organization so licensed to operate as a Mobile Money provider or Electronic Retail Payment Service Provider as per the BOJ.

Since then other competitors have stepped up to the plate, but none have been as visible as JCCUL, albeit they haven't place any advertisement on Television, resorting only to advertisements within their Credit Union Branches or booths to hand out flyers, persons who I’ve encountered at the MICO University College.

So what new changes have the JCCUL put in place with the rebranding of JCUES? And will these changes be convenient enough to make more unbanked Jamaicans embrace the idea of having a Bank Account as argued in my blog article entitled “BOJ stalling on Mobile Money Regulations as new entrants appear - Herald for the Cashless Society as Smartphones and Mobile Money are The Perfect Storm and Curse of Chucky”?

JCUES now CONEC Mobile Money - Paymaster and Remittances part of the JCCUL-Mozido Jamaica mix

In addition to the rebranding, they've also made a partnership with Third-party Bill Payment Processor Paymaster to top up their Mobile Money Accounts. The would basically be acting as the Retail Payment Service Providers for the JCCUL's CONEC Mobile Wallet which is called an Electronic Retail Payment Service as per the BOJ's regulations as detailed in my blog article entitled “BOJ to regulate and approve Mobile Money Industry in Jamaica - JCCUL JCUES is the Man of Steel as GraceKennedy joins The Last Stand for a Cashless Society”.

This means that JCCUL's customer can now top up their CONEC Mobile Wallet at any of Paymaster's twenty one (21) locations in addition to their 40 Credit Union Branches islandwide. Paymaster earns from this partnership on a commission basis and the customer will not initially be charged to top up their Accounts, albeit withdrawal may come with a withdrawal fee.

It also solves the problem of withdrawal of live cash, as no ATM's currently have NFC (Near Field Communication) Readers as explained in my blog article entitled “JCCUL get's approval from BOJ to launch their JCUES Mobile Money Platform - JCUES Mobile Money Wolverine (2013) marks the Kick-Ass 2 (2013) beginning of a Cashless Society”.

But probably the most exciting News is that the JCCUL's CONEC Mobile Wallet has finally been granted the ability to do Remittance services on behalf of Moneygram according to the Kavin Hewitt, CEO of JCCUL's technology partner, Mozido Jamaica. CONEC Mobile Wallet can verify and receive remittances from abroad as well as give the customer the option to either deposit it in their CONEC Mobile Wallet or a Credit Union Account.

Access to this US$2 billon Remittance Market is the main reason why they'd formed the partnership with JCCUL in the first place to introduce Mobile Money to Jamaica back in June 2011 when news of the JCCUL and Mozido Jamaica came to light in my blog article entitled “Mozido Jamaica Limited and Mobile Payments - Plants and Zombies say the Gods must be Crazy”.

Moneygram, which were preciously doing business via NCB (National Commercial Bank) before NCB cutting ties with them , possibly as they have plans in the pipeline to do their own Mobile Money service as predicted in my blog article entitled “NCB Under Pressure cuts ties with Remittance Agent MoneyGram - NCB using innovation Edge to plan Mobile Money, Remittance and E-Commerce Triple Play Services by September 2014”.

JCCUL 1,000,000 Customer target - Why CONEC Mobile Money still not convenient enough to convince the unBanked

JCCUL has some pretty ambitious plans for the growth of CONEC Mobile Wallet:

1.      3000 customers use the service for Bill Payments and mobile phone top-up

2.      50,000 is their target customer base by the end of 2014

3.      1,000,000 Credit Union Members is their long term target

The fee charged for doing transactions is also very interesting. Based on test transactions done using the CONEC Mobile Wallet by Caribbean Business Report:

1.      CONEC Mobile Wallet does Bill Payments, mobile phone top-up and Remittances

2.      CONEC Mobile Wallet does Wallet to Wallet and Wallet to Credit Union Account transactions

3.      JA$100 is the minimum amount in any transaction

4.      JA$10 transaction fee to transfer the minimum amount of $100

5.      JA$40 transaction fee to transfer $5,000

According to CEO of Paymaster Audrey Marks the CONEC Mobile Wallet services “signals a good shift in how more Jamaicans can access financial services”. However, from a someone like myself whose used to using various means of receiving and sending money via Bank Accounts, this isn't anywhere near convenient.

Most Credit Unions do not open on a Saturday or Sunday, making depositing or withdrawal of money a matter of using a Debit Card, assuming that the particular Credit Union that’s a JCCUL member issues Debit Cards for their Credit Union Account.

CONEC Mobile Money still inconvenient – You have to be a Credit Union Member

That’s another problem to; having to join a Credit Union; many Jamaicans merely have a Bank Account for work as they are PAYE (Pay and You Earn) Workers who have their salaries sent to their Bank Accounts. When payday comes which may be monthly or fortnightly, because of the fear of Banking fees for repetitive withdrawals, many just withdraw all of their money all at once, fearing that they’ll have no money over the weekend when they might need cash.

This is an anecdotal observation I’ve made based on observing the financial behavior of the residents of the Swallowfield Community that’s sandwiched between Hold Hope Road, Arthur Wint Drive and North Avenue as well as members of the community of Milk River, Clarendon, where I’m originally from. Albeit anecdotal, I have observed this view of Bank Accounts and their usage wherever I travel in Kingston and other parts of Jamaica.

This behavior is true across all demographics and is a conclusion that can also be drawn for the CaPRI (Caribbean Policy Research Institute) study requested by the CAC (Consumer Affairs Commission) that has indicated that Banks have been profiting from increasing Bank fees as stated in “Local Banking Fees In Keeping With Western Trends - Study”, Published Monday April 7, 2014 10:06 am, The Jamaica Gleaner.

At one point in April 2014 was the focus of proposal by the Minister of Finance, Dr. Peter Phillips, who use the CaPRI study to propose an ATM Withdrawal Tax which he later withdrew due to pressure from the Banking sector as stated in my blog article entitled “Minister of Finance, Dr. Peter Phillips withdraws ATM WithDrawal Tax - Wealthier Class Big Stick quells the Perfect Storm for Mobile Money and Cashless Society”.

CONEC Mobile Money not smart – Smartphones and Blackberry’s and no 24/7 Banking

Then there are the 21 locations for Paymaster, many of which do not open on a Sunday either, making top-up and withdrawals difficult. Finally, none of these locations are open between the hours of 10pm to 8am at nights on weekdays and weekends, suggesting that 24-hour Banking isn't really a reality using CONEC Mobile Wallet as would be the case if you had cash – preferably withdrawn when you got paid!

If someone sends your money via Moneygram and you opt to receive it via CONEC Mobile Wallet, you can only transfer it to another CONEC Mobile Wallet Account, buy Credit for your cell phone or pay off Utility Bills from the comfort of your home.

CONEC Mobile Wallet is yet to reach the stage like Digicel's Tcho Tcho Mobile where you can waltz into a convenience store in Port Au Prince in Haiti and buy groceries in the supermarket, a service Telecom Provider Digicel may yet bring to Jamaica as predicted in my blog article entitled “Digicel to roll out Mobile Money Service in 2014 - Haiti Tcho Tcho Mobile Love is Bringing the Boom with ScotiaBank heralds Cashless Society by 2015”.

But aside from the inability to have access to your cash 24-7 in case of emergencies as well as being unable to spend your cash using your mobile phone, there is also the fact that you cannot use your CONEC Mobile Wallet at any Multi-Link ATM (Automated Teller Machine) to withdraw Cash. In order to do that, you'd either need a CONEC Mobile Wallet Debit Card or the various Banks would have to upgrade their ATM's with Bluetooth, QR Codes or NFC (Near Field Communication) Readers to allow you to use your smartphone to verify your CONEC Mobile Wallet Account and withdraw cash.

This by the way is assuming that CONEC Mobile Wallet utilizes Bluetooth, QR Codes or NFC Readers, which would imply that it can only be used by customers toting smartphones with Cameras, which are needed to read QR codes as pointed out in my blog article entitled “QR Codes and Shopping in South Korea - My Science Project for A Virtual Supermarket”.

Albeit Smartphone usage is on the rise, with no official statistics or studies to verify smartphone usage, this is really more of a guess on the part of the JCCUL than a service being offered based on a Proper Market Survey.

If it uses SMS as well, then withdrawals are still possible with feature phones which many Jamaicans still have, but special codes would have to be provided during the transaction by the user as well as by the ATM in order to execute a transaction to deposit or withdraw cash.

CONEC Mobile Money not connecting – More Merchants with Bluetooth, NFC Readers needed

Add to this the fact that the JCCUL hasn't signed on enough Merchants to even use their Bluetooth, QR Codes or NFC Readers or do transactions via SMS Codes in a manner similar to Tcho Tcho Mobile in Haiti as explained in my blog article entitled “Digicel to roll out Mobile Money Service in 2014 - Haiti Tcho Tcho Mobile Love is Bringing the Boom with ScotiaBank heralds Cashless Society by 2015”.

JCCUL still only have 3000 customers using CONEC Mobile Wallet and possibly very few Merchants who have signed up as Retail Payment Service Providers as per the BOJ's Mobile Money Regulations as explained in my blog article entitled “BOJ to regulate and approve Mobile Money Industry in Jamaica - JCCUL JCUES is the Man of Steel as GraceKennedy joins The Last Stand for a Cashless Society”.

So it stands to reason that they had a lot of bugs to iron out in order to make CONEC Mobile Wallet a true replacement for Cash. Without access to your Cash 2/7 and the inability to do transactions using any phone and not just Blackberry and smartphones that have Bluetooth, QR Code Readers or NFC enabled, CONEC Mobile Wallet has a long way to go before they can even reach a million customers.

Here’s the Link:

CONEC Mobile Wallet Facebook Page

CONEC Mobile Wallet Website

CONEC FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)

CONEC Mobile Wallet Twitter Feed: @ConecJa