Walk past almost any bank branch in Jamaica and you will see the same thing: a line inside and a line outside. In 2026, that should not be the picture.
The technology boom of the late 1990s and early 2000s is more than twenty-five years behind us. By now we should be over the hump and sailing smoothly. Instead, in my experience, many companies, and financial institutions in particular, seem further from that goal than they should be. The technology is here. What is missing is the will to make it easy to use.
What it looks like at the counter
Why should a replacement ATM card take more than an hour, with a manager or supervisor called over to authorize it at the customer service desk?
Recently I helped someone activate a commercial banking card. The branch issued the card and gave a number to call. The agent on the line then asked for a second phone to download an authenticator app. That app produced a code of 30 to 40 characters, in type so small it had to be pinched and enlarged, then read back and forth and typed into the other phone.
I work in technology, and it still took us nearly two hours. Most customers would have given up long before that, and many do. They decide it is not worth the trouble and go back to the line.
Two more visits, nothing resolved
The week this article was first published, the same customer went back to the branch twice, on November 5 and 6.
- Changing a username. The customer asked to change the username for online banking and was told that once a username is created, it can never be changed.
- Fingerprint sign-in. The customer asked to sign in with a fingerprint, as had been possible for a couple of years, and was told it had never been activated on the phone. The phone provider confirmed it had been working.
- A charge the customer did not recognize. The statement showed an Amazon Prime membership charge. The customer was told the fine print at checkout had probably been missed, but says no purchase was made. The branch could not take the query and gave a phone number to call.
- Blocking a merchant. The next day the customer asked the bank to block charges from Amazon and was told a merchant cannot be blocked. In the end the customer asked for a new card, due in up to five working days, and was again told to call about the charge.
Two visits on two days, and nothing was resolved. Some of these rules may have a security reason behind them. If so, the customer should be told what it is, not just sent somewhere else.
Out of curiosity, I checked with my bank in Canada. I changed my own username there in seconds, from the phone app and from a desktop computer, without help from anyone.
When security pushes customers away
Fraud and scams are real, and institutions are right to take them seriously. But security that customers cannot get through does not make them safer. It makes them afraid of the channel and pushes them back to cash, the counter and the line.
That works against everyone. People who rarely use digital banking never learn what normal looks like, so they are less able to recognize a scam when one reaches them. The best protection against fraudsters is a customer who uses the technology confidently and knows its warning signs, not one who avoids it altogether.
I have lived in Canada for close to 35 years, and I still bank with a major Canadian bank that also operates in the Caribbean. The experience there is completely different from the one here. Culture and demographics play a part in how quickly people adopt technology, but they do not explain the whole gap.
Secure and simple are not opposites
The answer is not to strip out protection. It is smarter security: strong where the risk is high, and nearly invisible where it is low. In practice, that means:
- Match the check to the risk. A card replacement for a known customer at their own branch should not need the same steps as a large transfer to a new payee.
- Give front-line staff the authority to finish the job. If every routine request needs a supervisor, the process is the problem, not the customer.
- Design every step for the customer’s device and eyesight. Activation should take minutes on one phone, with codes people can actually read.
- Let customers handle routine changes themselves. Changing a username, turning on fingerprint sign-in or blocking a merchant should be a setting in the app, not a branch visit.
- Teach customers, not just protect them. Show them how the app works and what a scam looks like, in the branch and on the phone.
- Measure the friction. Track how long common tasks take and how many customers abandon them, and treat those numbers as seriously as fraud losses.
I urge our banks and financial institutions to make technology rewarding, easy to use and encouraging for their customers, so that people want to use it rather than avoid it.
Are we ready for AI?
This is the question that concerns me most. Artificial intelligence (AI) is arriving in banking, insurance and government whether we are ready or not. If, after twenty-five years, we are still struggling with the basics of digital service and the governance behind it, are we really ready for AI?
The institutions that benefit from AI will be the ones that first get the fundamentals right: clear processes, sensible security, staff who are empowered, and customers who trust and understand the tools in front of them.
Jamaica has the talent and the technology to get there. What we need now is the will to put the customer at the center, and to make the secure way the easy way.
Is your security working for your customers, or against them?
We help institutions find where security adds friction without adding protection, so the secure way becomes the easy way.
Begin a conversation →This article reflects the author’s own experience and views. It is general commentary and does not refer to any particular institution.