THE EDITOR, Sir:
NATIONAL COMMERCIAL Bank's decision to invest US$50 million in a new Information Technology system is a very welcome one indeed. The importance of the bank's foresight in implementing such a project - albeit a bit late - could not have come at a better time as we are now in the age of the super information highway where going into one's branch to complete a transaction is becoming as obsolete as Lada motor cars on the Jamaican roads.
Back in the early 1990s, NCB and Jamaica National Building Society were the two financial institution on the cutting edge of IT as they were both using the IbankR system to process customer transactions while other institutions were still manually recording transactions in customers pass book!
Since then Jamaica National Building Society has forged ahead and is even now offering a JN Money Transfer service; available to recipient within 15 minutes; using the Internet. To my knowledge there is no other financial institution in Jamaica that currently offers this locally conceptualised, speedy service.
Here I am not talking about Moneygram or the other 'foreign' remittance services. With NCB's decision to offer Internet Banking service to it's customers I can see accounts being switched from other banks in the short-term as the ease and convenience of Internet banking beckons.
As we speak the remittance service offered from the London branch has being suspended indefinitely for a few months now and the branch has not been able to say when this will commence again. It would be worthwhile for NCB to consider doing away with passbooks as these have a short shelf life, and concentrate on issuing bankcards, as is the case in Europe and North America. The current Midas card could be overhauled to offer the proposed service.
With Internet banking it would be so much easier to log on and pay for services there such as subscription and membership fees than the current situation where one has to go into the overseas branch with passbook and identification and inform the branch of the particular transaction they desire to complete in Jamaica. It would reduce also NCB's expenditure on postage and courier service that has to be incurred sending the passbooks overseas.
I am well aware that telephone banking is available using Midas but that can be expensive for those of us who do not live in Jamaica. Furthermore, Internet banking would cut out the problem faced by the aurally impaired like myself - if they choose to use telephone banking.
I was in the island recently and had reasons to go into the May Pen branch to add my signature to a new passbook that was sent to me in London and I could not believe the length of time I had to spend in the line! With the new focus and centralisation of activities I am hoping that the majority of those employees will be pulled from the back office to serve on the front line ensuring a speedier service.
May I say three cheers for the end of the "long line days"? Congratulations Mr Michael Lee Chin on your vision and foresight. It will be interesting to see how the other financial institutions measure up when the final phase of this project is implemented.
I am, etc.,
DURANT THOMPSON
Crashog@yahoo.com
London
Via Go-Jamaica
