Payment methods in Jamaica

North America

5methods

5banks

Electronic payments surged 19% in 2024, signalling accelerating digital adoption.

Market takeaways

Electronic payments surged 19% in 2024, signalling accelerating digital adoption.
E-commerce market projected at US$783 million in 2025, growing at ~8% CAGR through 2029.
Credit cards account for 65.1% of all retail payment volume by value.
Lynk digital wallet has ~145,000 individual customers and ~3,000 merchants.
Jamaica's CBDC (JAM-DEX) is live and accessible exclusively via the Lynk wallet.

Population

2.8M

Online population

2.0M

B2C e-commerce

$0.78B

Banked population

~80%

Credit card population

~35%

Payment method breakdown

Card (Credit & Debit)65%
Bank Transfer15%
E-Wallet10%
Cash8%
Other2%

Card scheme breakdown

Visa50%
Mastercard40%
American Express5%
Local Schemes (MultiLink)5%
Other0%

Cross-border e-commerce

Market data coming soon.

Featured payment methods in Jamaica

Popular options based on coverage and prominence in this market.

JAM-DEX (Jamaican Central Bank Digital Currency)

JAM-DEX is the Bank of Jamaica's retail central bank digital currency, making Jamaica one of the first countries globally to fully deploy a CBDC. It is distributed and accessed exclusively through the NCB Lynk wallet. The government has used JAM-DEX for disbursements including seasonal work payments, with ongoing efforts to expand merchant and consumer adoption.

Visa / Mastercard (Credit & Debit)

International card schemes dominate Jamaican payments. National Commercial Bank (NCB), Scotiabank Jamaica, and CIBC FirstCaribbean are among the primary issuers. The MultiLink domestic network enables over 1.864 million debit cards to transact 24/7 at merchants and ATMs. Credit cards account for the majority of high-value transactions.

NCB ePOS

Launched in June 2024, NCB's ePOS allows SME customers to turn their mobile phone or tablet into a payment acceptance terminal. It reduces the barrier for small businesses to accept card payments without traditional POS hardware, supporting broader electronic payment adoption across the economy.

NCB Lynk

Lynk is Jamaica's first full-scale digital wallet, launched in December 2021 by NCB's fintech arm. It is the sole approved platform for JAM-DEX, Jamaica's central bank digital currency. Lynk supports P2P transfers, merchant payments, and bill payments. It has approximately 145,000 individual users and 3,000 merchants, with transactions valued over JMD 5 million facilitated to date.

WiPay Jamaica

WiPay is a Caribbean-founded payment aggregator operating in Jamaica, processing card payments, QR payments, and facilitating merchant online storefronts. It supports both local and regional transactions and is used by Jamaican businesses for e-commerce integration.