Ross Sheil, Staff Reporter
Postcash, a new service charged at a flat rate and soon to become Jamaica's first stored-value card, could be the future of the remittance industry, the company believes.
Launched yesterday at the University of Technology (UTech) in St. Andrew, with service beginning the same day, Postcash will charge US$9.99 to send. Both sender and receiver will get J$50 phone credit free per transaction and notification messages/voicemail will indicate when a transfer goes through.
BoJ go-ahead
Postcash, which currently has 80 outlets in Jamaica, should start offering the stored-value cards within 90 days, following the Bank of Jamaica's (BoJ) general go-ahead to banks last week, said Postcash Jamaica general manager Nnamdi Eguh. The cards are already available in the United States where it has 5,000 outlets, as well as other Caribbean islands. It will soon launch its services in the United Kingdom and Canada.
The synergies offered by Postcash, believes Andrew B. Cocking, deputy group president of Capital and Credit - which will handle the transactions itself - are a move away from just sending and receiving cash.
"The card industry primarily, up to now, has been targeting people who have been customers of that bank. But the more services you can provide the more the 'unbanked', such as students, may become bank customers," said Mr. Cocking.
National development
He said that more attention should be given to the implications of remittance flows towards national development, citing a recent report by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) that identified Jamaica among other developing countries as inefficient in this area. Remittances worth US$1.621 billion to Jamaica last year could, he suggested, be invested by overseas Jamaicans as savings with the National Housing Trust, and reclaimed when they return home to buy houses.
Customers will join the service, offered for free, either through direct marketing or through the post office which is in talks to become a full Postcash outlet.
"Anything at all that complements the post office network is something that we would be willing to engage in, especially with local partners," said Jamaica Post Commercial Services Manager Shawn Sydial.
Mr. Sydial said there would be no contradiction with the post office already hosting MoneyGram concessions given that it was a service provider and was already offering competing brands with the Digicel and Cable & Wireless prepaid phone card brands.
Magna Rewards is also looking at a possible deal, said Project Development Manager Phillippa Sauterel, who also attended the launch.
