GK expands Proxim microloan network

GRACEKENNEDY MONEY Services, GKMS, has expanded the network for distribution of its consumer loan product, GK Proxim, through its bill payment shops.

Proxim is now available in 12 locations, positioning the company to go after a microcredit market that it estimates is valued at around $5 billion, but was tight-lipped on hopes for its microfinance business, which first launched into operation more than a year ago.

Rates offered by GK Proxim, the company otherwise indicated, are “market competitive.

“We don’t like to make targets public as that will be information open to our competitors,” said CEO of GKMS Michelle Allen.

The largest local microlender is considered to be JN Small Business Loans Limited, which last reported an annual revenue intake of $4 billion for the year ending March 2017. Other big operators include Access Financial Services and Lasco Microfinance.

GK Proxim was initially only available in GK ONE locations – a small network of one-stop financial shops currently numbering four — but is now available at eight Bill Express locations, Allen said. The Proxim locations are spread across Kingston, Portmore, Linstead, Mandeville, the parish of St James, Hopewell and Santa Cruz.

GK Proxim loans are capped at $70,000, with three months to repay, either in weekly, fortnightly or monthly instalments. It is the first and only loan offering that will accept remittance receipts as proof of income, said Allen, but consumers may also use their salary slip and bank statements to qualify for the loans, which are processed within 48 hours.

Loans are disbursed either via cash, to customers’ bank accounts, or mobile wallets via GK MPay, GraceKennedy’s mobile money solution.

GKMS primarily offers remittance and cambio services, controlling, in partnership with its Western Union partner, just over half of Jamaica’s US$2billion remittance market.

Allen said the company had long wanted to enter the consumer loan market to enhance its portfolio of services.