Bank Of Jamaica Drafts Regulations For Country’s $4 Billion ePayments Industry

The Central Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) is looking to regulate the burgeoning eCommerce retail industry in the country, a report from the Jamaica Gleaner says.

In the recently-ended year, the bank reported over 134 million transactions in the eCommerce retail space, worth over $4 billion.

The report notes that electronic payment firms have “mushroomed” to capitalize on the growing appetite for digital transactions, particularly in the wake of the pandemic. Now, the BOJ has been encouraging the growth of business that it’s now working to bring more under its purview of regulation powers and supervision, the report says.

The BOJ withdrew its guidelines for electronic retail payment services in early 2019 and is now working on a new legal operating framework for such business models. The 2019 withdrawals came because, according to the BOJ, the rules weren’t sufficient enough for the supervision and enforcement of particular businesses.

After the amendment of the rules, the BOJ will have the power to conduct onsite and offsite reviews and inspections of the premises of electronic retailers and carry out investigations of licensed or unlicensed providers. They’ll be able to impose penalties, and in addition, BOJ is looking at a new code of conduct for the market behavior of such businesses.

The moves, according to the Gleaner report, will hopefully be able to create an atmosphere that drives innovation while reducing risk.

Last year, PYMNTS wrote that the BOJ would abide by the Principles for Financial Market Infrastructures (PFMIs), which means any institution working toward facilitating financial transactions in the country would be more heavily monitored by BOJ. According to the bank, it wanted to work closer with Financial Market Infrastructures (FMIs), which are defined as multilateral systems used for “clearing, settling, or recording payments, securities, derivatives, or other financial transactions,” according to the Jamaica Observer.

FMIs, according to PYMNTS, are crucial for the country’s overall fiscal growth.