Government to make switching banks easier for customers

 

The government is moving to make it easier for bank customers to switch banks.

 

Finance Minister Dr Nigel Clarke has disclosed that a database will be created to make the process much simpler.

 

Noting that the "key stumbling block" in the way of customers seamlessly switching from one bank to another is that each time that is attempted the customer has to again present his/her KYC ["Know Your Customer"] details, the intention of the Government is to mandate the establishment of a KYC database, "that would hold information, and so persons could switch without (having to) re produce this information."

 

Dr Clarke, speaking Friday on Radio Jamaica's Hotline, also encouraged local investors to get into digital banking and digital finance as well as innovation in payment systems, noting that "around the world... banks have emerged that have become huge, that do not have bricks and mortar branches, but only have an internet presence,"

 

These banks, he said, "have greatly facilitated the inclusion of millions of persons in the financial system."

 

"Jamaica is ripe for that kind of innovation," he asserted, urging Jamaican entrepreneurs not to wait for a foreign investor "to come and discover the latent and real opportunity that exists in Jamaica, for a real revolution and innovation in banking."