Every great advance in science has issued from a new audacity of imagination
Introduction
There are a number of factors that prevent or impede the efficient and economical provision of financial services to rural residents in Jamaica. These extend to distances that exist between rural folks and facilities providing financial services, the travelling costs to access financial services due to proximity to financial facilities, the limited knowledge in rural areas of financial services that can be made available through technological means, amongst others.
The lack or absence of financial services has been a deterrent to both development and increasing the quality of life of many of Jamaica’s rural residents. It also constitutes an opportunity being missed to engage rural communities of under banked and unbanked individuals, into financial services and economic endeavours.
It is on the heels of this reality that the JNBS Foundation and Inter American Development Bank have developed and engaged the implementation of this initiative branded “JN Swipe: Bank On Your Community”.
Aimed primarily at addressing gaps in financial service provisions to rural folks and fostering development, the Project is focused on increasing the participation of individuals and small businesses in targeted rural communities of Jamaica, to become formally engaged in the financial system.
At the core of the Project are three areas now being undertaken which are prerequisites to the Project’s implementation:
- Expansion of JNBS Network infrastructure to accommodate Point of Sale terminals through which key financial services will be provided;
- Education of clients of JNBS, other financial services providers and persons now underserved by financial service providers, of the services to be provided;
- The development of a new Loan Product for JNBS clients.
