JMMB Bank Makes Account Opening Easier & More Accessible for COVID Financial Assistance Beneficiaries
JMMB Bank will be offering bank accounts to all the beneficiaries of the Government of Jamaica (GOJ) COVID 19 Allocation of Resources to Employees (CARE) Programme, who selected its sister company - JMMB Money Transfer- for collection of their grants.
This move is in line with the thrust towards financial inclusion efforts, championed by the government, in a bid to allow more Jamaicans to become a part of the formal banking sector and operate in the current economic environment, which is becoming increasingly digital.
CARE beneficiaries can collect their cash pick up at any JMMB Money Transfer location, including its over 100 agent locations island wide, using: any valid government-issued identification (driver’s licence, passport, voter’s ID) or institutional identification (in the case of a minor), tax registration number (TRN) and their CARE reference number.
Jerome Smalling, CEO of JMMB Bank outlines that the bank, in responding to the need of these beneficiaries, for banking services, further examined and customized its account opening procedure to allow these individuals to easily open an account, with the minimal documentation requirements, namely: national identification, TRN, address and birth certificate/ date of birth. In further explaining the process, Smalling said, “We have put measures in place to make the process of opening a JMMB Bank account for all CARE beneficiaries who visit JMMB locations, seamless and simple. In addition to the documents, individuals will complete the simplified client information form and submit these, while they wait at JMMB locations.”
As such, these individuals can further access additional financial solutions and financial partnership. The bank CEO shared, “We are happy to welcome these individuals to the JMMB family, as we offer them a customized banking experience; with the automatic option of opening a Jamaican-dollar JMMB Bank account, which gives them the added convenience offered by the JMMB Bank Visa debit card. This Visa debit card would facilitate point-of-sale (POS) transactions, online bill payment, local wire transfers, namely automated clearing house (ACH), among other services, with no minimum balance requirements and no fees, at this time.” JMMB Bank will communicate with these clients, to arrange for the distribution of their Visa debit cards, in-branch, within weeks of opening their accounts. Additionally, these clients will have access to online banking, via JMMB Moneyline.
Going forward, access to these banking services will enable such individuals to now receive any similar grants/ financial assistance and money transfers, via their bank accounts, thereby making the future transactions hassle-free.
Smalling notes, in keeping with the bank’s commitment to making banking easier and more accessible for Jamaicans, the company is looking to also extend similar account opening procedures to other such individuals, within the confines of regulatory guidelines, in order to remove the barriers to banking. Adding, “This approach is in keeping with the vision and very premise on which JMMB was founded, to make financial solutions more accessible to every Jamaican. We look forward to delivering on our promise of offering value-added solutions to our clients, as part of our ongoing efforts to expand our service offerings and create solutions that are in their best interest,“ said the bank CEO.
This comes in light of the need for more individuals to have added convenience and a seamless cashless payment solution.
“Through this effort to offer more individuals access to banking services, we hope that these clients will eventually be able to qualify to tap into the full range of services available, across the JMMB Group, to meet their financial needs and achieve their goals,’ said Smalling. The financial conglomerate, JMMB Group, offers banking, investments, financial advisory services, insurance brokerage and money transfer solutions.