This time it’s not the Big Three Banks in the form of NCB (National Commercial Bank), BNS (Bank of Nova Scotia) more commonly known as Scotia Bank and RBTT (Royal Bank of Trinidad and Tobago), now rebranded RBC (Royal Bank of Canada).
Rather it’s the CIBC First Caribbean Jamaica and First Global, the 4thand 5th largest Banks in Jamaica, that have decided to introduce Online Cross-Network Banking for Retail customers to any other Commercial Banks Accounts as stated in the article “Cross-network Banking taking root”, published Sunday September 30, 2012 by Mcpherse ThompsonThe Jamaica Gleaner.
NCB and ScotiaBank only offer Cross-Network Banking to its Corporate and Business customers. If you’ve been following my Telecoms articles thus far, the reason for this is a lot like the privileges that the Postpaid Customer on Telecom Networks enjoyed by virtue of the fact that they are a steady source of Revenue and thus garner the Telecom Provider attention.
After all, much like the Telecoms World, we already have a form of Cross Network Banking; once you go to any ATM (Automated Teller Machine) that has the MultiLink sign, you can use your Debit Card to perform limited Transactions that attract prohibitively expensive Cross Network Banking Fees. Again akin to the Early Days of Cross Network Calling among Telecom Providers before the prices came tumbling down
I say limited, as most of these MultiLink ATM, which are maintained for the Banks by a contractor named JET Limited, provide only the ability to look at you Account Balance [Enquiry] and Withdraw Funds [Withdraw].
There is still no facility to allow you to:
1. Deposit funds at any Multilink ATM to your own Accounts
2. Deposit funds at any Multilink ATM to any other Account other than your own
3. Deposit cheques at any Multilink ATM
4. Change Cheques at any Multilink ATM
These transactions still have to be done inside of the Bank in bleak long lines entertained only by Sports events on the Banks strategically mounted TV Sets. So it nice to know that at least CIBC First Caribbean Jamaica is following suite behind GraceKennedy Limited owned First Global and introducing this facility, albeit online.
It would be nice if the above were also implemented by the Big Three, as it would allow for Cross-Network Banking on smartphones and make the many unBanked in Jamaica as recently studied by Director of the Centre of Excellence of the Mona School of Business (MSB) Dr Maurice McNaughton as noted in the article “Jamaica Counting On its UnBanked”, published Friday, September 30, 2011, The Jamaica Observer more amenable to the idea of putting their money in a Bank in the First place.
All that is required is for the Telecom Providers to upgrade their Telecom Networks to use stronger A5/1 Encryption on their GSM Networks as stated in my blog article entitled “Telecom Providers and Mobile Banking – Christmas a cum me wah me llama” as it is very much a possibility in the future that hackers will begin to focus their efforts on intercepting the Telecom Provider Networks to steal Debit and Credit Card numbers and PINs (Personal Identification Numbers).
1. JCCUL members who have a JCUES Account using a Mobile Phone must also have a Commercial Bank Account
2. Their Mobile phone needs to be registered in their name, preferably using GOJ Picture Identification
By that time, sometime around 2015AD, everyone would have migrated to smartphones and all Commercial Banks and Credit Unions would have begun to offer Cross-Network Banking and Mobile Banking services. The UnBanked in Jamaica, mainly recipients of Remittances from abroad and SME (Small and Medium Enterprises) who do not have their money in a Bank Account would have no excuse not to trust the Commercial Banks and Credit Unions as they would have easy access to their money.
By making all transaction go from Bank Account to Bank Account be it in a Credit Union or a Commercial Bank, it makes them traceable and easily taxable, thus satisfying the BOJ criteria for proper regulation of the Banking Sector and making Money laundering next to impossible.
It would also offer a measure of protection, as Telecom Provider Networks are already heavily encrypted, and on having your Mobile phone stolen, one would merely report it to your Telecom Provider to have the SIM Card blocked so you can get back your phone number, which would effectively be you Account Number.
Thus a benefit to Telecom Providers, not only would see and increased used of their GSM Voice Networks EDGE (Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution) Services to connect more ATM’s all across the island but also you take advantage of the increased Cross-Banking activity to introduce Video Calling Services in ATM’s powered by Avaya as stated in “Avaya’s Scopia will save on trips”, published Friday, September 21, 2012 by NEKIESHA REID Business reporter, The Jamaica Observer.
After all, it’s my hard-earned money and I should be able to get access to it or add to it at any time, any place I desire. It would thus seem therefore that this little reported development in the Media by CIBC First Caribbean Jamaica and First Global, the 4thand 5th largest Banks in Jamaica is really The Avengers (2012)that will come to the rescue of Retail Banking Customer and grant them the same privileges as Business and Corporate customers, much in the same way Prepaid Customer now have the same Cross Network Calling Rates as PostPaid customer once had.
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