NCB to discontinue Quisk mobile wallet

Seven years after partnering on the mobile money wallet branded as NCB Quisk, the National Commercial Bank Jamaica says it is discontinuing its use effective September 30.

Its decision comes just ahead of the expiration of its current contract with United States-based technology company Quisk Incorporated.

In the interim, the bank has been encouraging customers to use up the funds on their accounts via purchases at participating Quisk merchants or cash out at its banking machines using the Quisk cash money option.

“The process of introducing and discontinuing product and service offerings follows a diligent review and is an ongoing practice,” NCB said in a press release.

NCB already has another digital wallet called Lynk, which has quickly gained name recognition and is rising in popularity.

Lynk has so far managed to do what other mobile money solutions from NCB and others have not: generate broad consumer interest. Last year, the Lynk wallet was said to have processed transactions worth $10 billion and $500 million in point-to-point sales.

Over Quisk’s seven-year run in the market, NCB’s marketing strategy was focused on the reduced expenses to merchants from costs associated with transporting and securing cash. It also played up the offering as “a more affordable payment method for low value transactions”, which are usually not accommodated by debit and credit cards, the bank said.

At peak, NCB Quisk had onboarded 400 merchants according to information on the bank’s website, but that is a fraction of the business that has flowed to Lynk, which at last count had onboarded some 5,000 merchants.

NCB was the first out of the block, with the digital wallets being developed under the central bank’s fintech initiative to speed up digital innovations. Lynk was also an early facilitator of the central bank digital currency Jam-Dex.

It has given NCB first-mover advantage in capturing business from more than 200,000 Lynkies’, or users, who can conduct peer-to-peer transfers, but its network continues to grow with the onboarding of small, medium, and large merchants – one of the newest additions being conglomerate GraceKennedy, which will offer Western Union services via Lynk.

NCB said Lynk was not conceptualised as a replacement for NCB Quisk.

“Instead, it has its own specialised road map and offers a unique set of values to its users. Both platforms were developed to coexist in the market, each serving its own set of needs and audiences,” the bank said.

karena.bennett@gleanerjm.com