“We
at Sagicor, along with our partners, Digicel Group (through its
subsidiary Prism Services Jamaica) and Mastercard, are delighted to
be providing this innovative and unprecedented level of customer
convenience to our Jamaican consumers, both here at home and in the
USA; MyCash is not only revolutionary in how it works, but the beauty
of this product is that it is suitable for everyone”
President
and CEO of Sagicor Group Jamaica , Christopher Zacca, commenting on
the launch of Digicel MyCash.
The
long awaited coming of Mobile money from Digicel has finally
happened.
Their
Digicel Money Prepaid MasterCard is to be called MyCash, was
officially launched on Monday August 27 2018 as reported in the
article “Sagicor
Bank Joins Digicel Group, Mastercard For Official Launch Of MyCash”,
published Monday August 27, 2018, The
Jamaica Gleaner.
The Digicel Money Prepaid MasterCard and app paired with the card for subscribers, will be powered by Master card and have local support from Sagicor through its subsidiary Prism Services Jamaica . It'll allow subscribers to utilize the product in multiple countries via ATMs, technically making it the first Mobile Money product launched in Jamaica that can be used abroad.
Digicel
will become the third local mobile money provider alongside Quisk
from NCB and GK MPay from GraceKennedy. Both GK MPay and Quisk are
mainly being used to purchase phone credit as I'd pointed out in my
Geezam blog article entitled “How
to get Jamaicans to use Quisk, GK MPay for more than just Phone
Credit”.
This
is a long time coming for Digicel, who have been hinting at plans to
launch a Mobile money platform for some time as reported in my blog
article entitled “Why
Digicel's purchase of Paymaster means Mobile Money is launching in
2016”.
In
that article, I had projected a launch of the product in 2016,
possibly as a push into bill payment in partnership with Paymaster.
Curiously,
Sagicor had already launched their own product powered by Master card
called SWYPE as I'd pointed out in my blog
article entitled “How
Sagicor Bank's SWYPE challenges QUISK, GK MPay for Mobile Money
Dominance”.
Now
they've partnered with some different players, with Sagicor a
newcomer to the Mobile Money platform with SWYPE.
So
what exactly is MyCash?
Digicel
launches MyCash - Powered by MasterCard
Digicel
is by no means a new player to Mobile money.
They
already have a successful services in operation
in Haiti called Tcho Tcho Mobile powered by Scotia Bank. Back then in
2014, then CEO Denis O' Brien had hinted at a similar service for
Jamaica as noted in my blog
article entitled “Digicel's
Mobile Money Service in 2014 - Haiti Tcho Tcho with ScotiaBank
heralds Cashless Society by 2015”.
MasterCard
is also making their presence felt in Jamaica, with a partnership
with Alliance Group of Companies to power their Alliance Prepaid
MasterCard that may empower children with their own card as predicted
in my blog
article entitled “How
Alliance Prepaid MasterCard makes Electronic Transactions for
Children and Moneygram e-commerce possible”.
MasterCard
is quite keen on getting into Jamaica as their rival VISa is already
visible all over the island, to quote Territory Manager for the
Caribbean at MasterCard, Marcelo Tangioni: “We are glad to offer
the power of our network, the strength of our brand and our
technology expertise to help bringing this project to life”.
Digicel
initially planned to launch its Jamaican card in April 2017. But
regulatory issues with the BOJ (Bank of Jamaica) means that they had
to reign in their plans that have been circulating since 2014.
However,
BOJ Senior Deputy Governor John Robinson confirmed on Thursday August
16th 2018 that the central bank has given approval for Sagicor Bank,
in partnership with Digicel, to offer an electronic retail payment
service card.
Now
they are finally ready and they sound very organized, especially as
they are partnering with Sagicor and MasterCard
and already have a mobile money app as reported in the article
“Sagicor
Partners With Digicel To Roll Out Mobile Money App”, Published
Friday August 17, 2018, by Avia Collinder, The
Jamaica Gleaner.
So
is MyCash a rebranding of SWYPE?
Digicel
and Sagicor - MyCash rebranding a boost to Sagicor SWYPE
Digicel
and Sagicor's aim is to make MyCash a universal card that can work at
any ATM as well as suit the Jamaican travelled.
So
says Digicel Jamaica's spokesman, Elon Parkinson, quote: “With a
shared vision of breaking down the barriers to financial inclusion,
Sagicor Bank, Digicel and MasterCard have been working together to
deliver a mobile money service that will meet the specific needs and
requirements of our Jamaican consumers”.
To
apply for a MyCash prepaid Mastercard, Jamaican customer have to do
the following:
-
Download the MyCash app
-
Register via the MyCash App
-
Visit any of the 16 Sagicor branches island-wide to validate their ID
-
Collect their MyCash card
-
Add cash to the card
MyCash
has been successfully piloted over the last few months and is now
available to the public. There are minimal transaction fees but
MyCash is the first of its kind in the market as it boasts the
following features:
-
No sign-up fees
-
No need for a bank account
-
No tedious application form
-
No credit-checks
The
MyCash product, which will come to market before December 2018, will
allows customers to do the following:
-
Send and receive money locally
-
Check account balances
-
Shop
-
Cash transactions at ATMs
Sounds
familiar? it should, as that's the same thing that SWYPE was aiming
to do as noted in my blog
article entitled “How
Sagicor Bank's SWYPE challenges QUISK, GK MPay for Mobile Money
Dominance”.
Digicel
MyCard may well be a rebranding of Sagicor's SWYPE; very little
advertising has been done by Sagicor since they launched SWYPE. I
suspect Sagicor is afraid they may end up going the way of CONEC
Mobile, the JCCUL (Jamaica Co-operative Credit Union League).
The
JCCUL, the original pioneer of Mobile Money in Jamaica, launched in
2013 and rebranded as JCUES and then CONEC, as reported in my blog
article entitled “JCUES
now CONEC Mobile Wallet - Why CONEC Mobile Wallet still inconvenient
despite Paymaster”.
It
suffered from having a cumbersome website interface and an
app that did not work reliably. So it died in December 2017 due to
these factors as well as a lack of proper marketing as noted in my
Geezam blog article entitled “JCCUL
Shutters CONEC Mobile Wallet, leaving Quisk and MPay in the Race”.
So
their management may have decided to just partner with Digicel,
especially as their MPOS (Mobile Point of Sale) device needs a
reliable 4G LTE ready telecom infrastructure and Digicel is the best
partner to have, both as a platform as well as an advertising
partner!
Hopefully
they will include doing e-commerce and shopping online, something
that seems to be missing from other entrants into the Mobile Money
space.
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