Post by boj on Apr 2, 2022 3:44:09 GMT
KINGSTON, Jamaica — FinTech Subsidiary of the NCB Financial Group, Lynk, says it's getting ready to support the Government of Jamaica's injection of 250-million JamDex dollars into the economy.
In a statement this week, Lynk, noted that Finance Minister, Dr Nigel Clarke, announced recently that the first 100,000 Jamaicans to register for a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) account after April 1, will receive a Jam-Dex 2,500 Jamaican dollar deposit from the Government.
Lynk, which is Jamaica's latest digital wallet provider, offered through a part of the NCB Financial Group, revealed that it is currently rolling out an education programme to support this announcement and help Jamaicans get ready to take advantage of the launch of CBDC.
“As the only digital wallet that can currently facilitate registering for a CBDC wallet, Lynk is uniquely positioned to support the Government's effort to introduce CBDC, the digital form of legal tender of Jamaica - called Jam-Dex - to Jamaica,” said Vernon James, Lynk CEO.
According to James, Lynk, which was introduced to Jamaica in an open market pilot phase last December, already has close to 900 merchants and thousands of users sending and receiving cash with the Lynk app on their smartphones.
Denise Williams, recently appointed Chief Growth Officer at the company, was quoted in the statement from Lynk.
Williams explained that Lynk is currently focusing on peer-to-peer digital cash exchange and enabling customers to purchase from their favourite micro-merchants.
“This will give us much insight into customer behaviour as we continue to garner feedback from the public and get ready to expand our services to larger merchants and introduce features such as bill payments, mobile top-ups and cash-in/cash-out at NCB iABMs across the Island, in the coming months,” she said.
Williams added that the inclusion of the Jam-Dex wallet in the Lynk eco-system, “will only serve to widen the possibilities and bring even more convenience to the Jamaican public as we continue to expand our features towards our vision of becoming a financial super app. In addition to utilizing Lynk to send and receive money, Lynkies (Lynk users) will also be able to access Jam-Dex as another form of currency in their Lynk wallet once Jam-Dex is launched and the currency made available to the public.”
Lynk says like Jam-Dex, it is also focused on supporting the unbanked and under-banked community to help this segment of the population benefit from a broader range of financial services, which could also include cheaper loans.
Williams noted that with over 80 per cent of Jamaicans being under-banked, the majority of Jamaicans are not fully able to participate in and utilize affordable mainstream financial services.
“We at Lynk plan to change this; our goal is to ensure that every Jamaican has access to safe, easy-to-use, and secure financial services. We believe that adding Jam-Dex to our portfolio will accelerate this goal,” she said.
Lynk commented that it is now leading and participating in various public forums and discussions to answer questions on how the Lynk wallet works, how Lynk and NCB will facilitate the Jam-Dex wallet, and how customers can use both Lynk and Jam-Dex in their everyday lives.
“With us adding an additional J$250 welcome bonus for each new customer, we encourage customers to sign up to Lynk before the April 1 date so that customers can familiarize themselves with Lynk and learn how it easily fits into their everyday life while securing their space in line as one of the 100,000 people who will receive the Jam-Dex J$2,500 that Minister Clarke announced,” Williams said.