JAMAICA-World Bank is helping BOJ establish a central electronic database.

KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC—The World Bank is assisting the Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) in developing a central electronic database with Know Your Customer (KYC) information to facilitate customer switching banks.

BOJ Governor Richard Byles said that the new facility is expected to become operational within the next 18 to 24 months.

“The World Bank is working with us on it, but it will take a lot of cooperation between ourselves and the commercial banks. We’re going to be telling them that you need to take all of your data on every customer, and there are hundreds of thousands of customers, and put that data into this depository,” he said while presenting the BOJ’s Quarterly Monetary Policy.

Byles told reporters that 60 percent of deposits reside in two of Jamaica’s 11 deposit-taking institutions and that competition can be created by introducing new players in the sector or making it easier for customers of any bank to move their accounts.

The BOJ Governor said opening an account is currently difficult and lengthy due to the anti-money laundering and combatting the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) policies in place.

“If a customer feels they are not getting a good rate… or good service at one bank, they can move quickly and easily,” Byles said of the benefit of the central database.

He acknowledged that banks must be assured that their customer’s data will be safe, secure, accessible, and not open to cyberattacks, and “so any central depository will have to be like Fort Knox.”

Fort Knox is the commonly used name for the United States Bullion Depository, a fortified vault building adjacent to the Fort Knox Army Post in the state of Kentucky. The depository is operated by the United States Department of Treasury and stores more than half of the country’s gold reserves.

Meanwhile, BOJ Deputy Governor Dr. Jide Lewis said that with very few documents, a customer should be able to enter any banking hall and digitally verify their identity.

“POCA, the Proceeds of Crime Act, was recently amended to allow banks to share KYC information. What this registry would do is create a digital mechanism.

“We believe it will make a material difference in customer experience with banks, especially in the process of opening an account and, by default, closing accounts,” Dr. Lewis said.