FirstCaribbean Jamaica upgrades banking platform, adjusts fees
CIBC FIRSTCARIBBEAN International Bank Jamaica Limited upgraded its banking platform with additional security notifications, requiring two-step verification and alerts to help clients manage their accounts.
The investment cost was not disclosed.
The platform, the bank said, offers finance management tools and allows easier transfer of funds to third parties “without the use of tokens”.
“The team worked alongside our consultants of DevBridge Group over the last few months to deliver,” said the bank through its communications unit. “As with any system upgrade, there were a few glitches at the beginning; however, all issues have been resolved.”
FirstCaribbean has 15 branches in Jamaica and is the fourth largest of eight commercial banks with a loan portfolio of $52 billion amid total assets of $94 billion.
On Wednesday, the bank published a range of fee adjustments related to in-branch transactions, savings, and chequing accounts – including a new $750 monthly service charge for chequing accounts, while eliminating the requirement for a monthly average balance that incurred a fee when breached – but said that they were unconnected to the investment in the banking platform.
“It is important to note that this is not a wide-scale pricing increase, and our prices to our clients will remain competitive. Fee changes are driven by the cost of providing our various services. Investment in our infrastructure is a planned activity that is included in our annual budget and designed to keep our services to our clients in line with developments in the financial services sector,” the bank said.