Jamaica Adds 718 New POS Terminals in Two Months as Digital Payment Network Expands Through August 2024

• POS terminals grew from 30,311 to 31,029 between June and August
• Debit card circulation reached 3.74 million, adding 70,000 cards in two months
• POS transactions totalled $745.83 billion JMD through August 2024
• ATM withdrawals reached $546.17 billion JMD over eight months
• RTGS settled $26.92 trillion JMD through August in wholesale payments
• Cheque volumes declined to 3.68 million against growing digital alternatives

Bank of Jamaica data for August 2024 shows Jamaica’s card payment network expanding at a consistent pace, with more than 700 new point-of-sale terminals added in two months and 70,000 new debit cards issued since June — signals of an economy building the infrastructure for deeper digital financial participation.

Jamaica’s payment system continued its measured expansion in August 2024, with the Bank of Jamaica’s Payment System Data Bulletin recording growth across key infrastructure indicators: more terminals, more cards, and higher transaction values across both wholesale and retail channels. The August bulletin covers activity from January through August and, alongside prior months’ data, reveals an economy steadily adding the physical and digital infrastructure on which a more inclusive payment system is built.

The numbers do not tell a story of dramatic leaps but of consistent, cumulative progress. Between June and August 2024, Jamaica added 718 new POS terminals — growing from 30,311 to 31,029 — and issued approximately 70,000 new JMD debit cards. Month by month, those additions compound into a network that reaches more merchants, more consumers, and more economic activity than it did a year before.

Wholesale Settlement: $26.92 Trillion Through August

The JAMCLEAR-RTGS system settled $26.92 trillion JMD across 26.92 million transaction records through August 2024, continuing the elevated pace of wholesale settlement activity that has defined the year. Commercial banks remained the dominant participants, accounting for approximately 80.34% of JMD values, while building societies handled 10.31% — a consistent indicator of active mortgage market flows. USD RTGS settlements reached $2.41 billion over the eight-month period, with building societies’ share of foreign-currency settlements reflecting ongoing activity in the USD mortgage and foreign-currency financing space.

The JAMCLEAR-CSD processed $10.40 trillion JMD in securities transaction values through August 2024, driven by repo markets that provide short-term liquidity to banks, primary dealers, and institutional investors. These markets — often invisible to the average consumer — are among the most important mechanisms keeping Jamaica’s financial system liquid and stable, enabling institutions to manage balance-sheet mismatches across different time horizons.

Retail Payments: Terminals, Cards, and Consumer Activity

POS terminals totalled 31,029 installed units across Jamaica by August 2024, supporting 55.02 million JMD transactions worth $745.83 billion over the eight-month period. USD POS activity added 2.15 million transactions worth $378.03 million. The rate at which new terminals are being deployed — 718 in just two months — reflects continued investment by banks and payment processors in merchant infrastructure. For businesses considering accepting card payments, the expanding terminal network signals that the commercial ecosystem is actively supporting that transition.

ATM withdrawals reached 32.45 million JMD transactions through August, valued at $546.17 billion. USD ATM activity added 802,870 withdrawals worth $242.31 million. These figures reinforce the picture established earlier in the year: cash remains a significant element of how Jamaicans access and use money, particularly for everyday transactions below a threshold where card acceptance is not universal — including in market stalls, small vendors, rural transportation, and informal services.

Cheque volumes reached 3.68 million through August 2024, with a total value of $631.96 billion JMD. While the value of cheques remains significant — reflecting their continued use in large business-to-business payments, government disbursements, and legal transactions — the volume trajectory is downward. The pattern is consistent with global trends in which cheque usage contracts from the middle of the transaction distribution outward, as the range of transaction types that digital payments can handle efficiently continues to widen.

Card Growth and What It Signals

JMD debit cards in circulation reached 3,739,862 by August 2024, up from 3,674,105 in June. That 65,757-card net increase in two months represents new bank relationships, new accounts, and new cardholders entering Jamaica’s formal financial system. JMD credit cards grew more modestly to 427,062 from 423,214. USD credit cards held at 25,063, while dual-currency cards edged to 41,063.

The debit card growth matters for several constituencies in Jamaica’s economy. For banks, each new cardholder expands the transaction base that generates interchange revenue and creates the customer relationship from which other products — savings accounts, personal loans, mortgages — can eventually be offered. For consumers, a debit card is often the first formal financial product, the one that starts a transaction history and makes subsequent credit assessments possible. For property developers and vendors operating in the consumer market, the growing card base represents a larger addressable market of buyers capable of completing digital transactions for deposits, fees, and services.

Building Societies and the Mortgage Market

Building societies’ consistent presence in the RTGS data — handling more than 10% of JMD settlement values and a significant share of USD transactions — is worth noting separately. These institutions, which serve a large proportion of Jamaica’s mortgage borrowers, are among the most important conduits for property financing on the island. Their activity in the wholesale settlement system reflects funding flows that ultimately translate into mortgages for home buyers, construction loans for developers, and refinancing facilities for existing borrowers.

With the Bank of Jamaica having held its policy rate at elevated levels through 2024, the ability of building societies to continue funding mortgage activity through the settlement system is a meaningful signal for the property market. If their RTGS participation were to contract significantly, it would suggest stress in the mortgage market that would have direct consequences for housing affordability, developer financing, and the broader real estate transaction pipeline.

The Larger Picture

The August 2024 Payment System Data Bulletin does not produce a single dramatic data point. What it offers instead is continuity: confirmation that Jamaica’s payment infrastructure is expanding at a steady, sustainable pace, that the transition from paper to digital is proceeding across both retail and wholesale channels, and that the institutions supporting this transition — commercial banks, building societies, the Bank of Jamaica — are maintaining consistent operational performance.

For investors, business owners, and property buyers assessing Jamaica as an operating environment, this kind of steady infrastructure growth is often more reassuring than headline-grabbing announcements. A payment system that adds 700 terminals every two months, issues 35,000 debit cards a month, and settles trillions of dollars in daily obligations without public incident is a payment system that can be relied upon — and that reliability is a form of economic value that underpins everything from consumer confidence to investor appetite.

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