Life of Jamaica (LOJ) president Richard Byles and Audrey Marks, CEO of Paymaster, at the signing of a partnership agreement allowing LOJ clients to pay premiums at Mark's bill payment agency, at LOJ Centre, New Kingston, Wednesday. - Rudolph Brown/Chief Photographer

Ashford W. Meikle, Business Reporter

Paymaster Limited has formally wrapped up a deal with Life of Jamaica (LOJ), which will allow the insurance company's policyholders to pay their premiums using the bill payment agency's islandwide network.

It is estimated that about 40 per cent of LOJ's 250,000 customers pay their premiums at the New Kingston head office on a monthly basis.

"We are bringing to clients and customers a new level of convenience and service delivery," said Paymaster's CEO, Audrey Marks, just before signing the partnership agreement with LOJ president Richard Byles at the insurance company's corporate offices in New Kingston.

"This will allow LOJ's policyholders to save time and money and will also increase efficiency and productivity."

By LOJ's own estimates, about 100,000 of its customers use its New Kingston offices on a monthly basis to pay their premiums. Another third pay via salary deductions.

Hopes to tap in on walk-ins

While Paymaster will not have a payment window at Barbados Avenue, Marks hopes to tap into that walk-in business, saying the agency has four bill payment outlets in the New Kingston belt.

Paymaster, which reached break-even in 2005, eight years after start-up, also has at least three outlets in every parish, Marks said.

She adds that some of the company's fortunes have resulted from the introduction of a fee to pay bills at Paymaster's windows.

Marks' biggest client remains Jamaica Public Service, which has more than 400,000 accounts, but Paymaster also does big business with Cable and Wireless Jamaica and National Water Commission, a state agency that Byles also chairs.

Both CEOs on Wednesday shied away from quantifying the value-added benefit of the deal, which appears to be 'win-win' for both parties.

"I don't know that we are saving," said Byles. "We are buying a quality of service. We are going to be paying more than we normally pay to collect, but we hope that we are providing customers of LOJ with greater convenience. We think the cost of that will be worth it," said Byles.

From a cost-benefit analysis, the reduction in the footfall at LOJ's locations will free up its staff to do more marketing as well as shave off costs of stationery and administrative overheads.

Also, if 70 per cent of LOJ's 100,000 walk-in customers were to use Paymaster outlets, at $35 per transaction, the bill payment agency could earn as much as $2.5 million monthly in addition to the undisclosed commission paid by Life of Jamaica.

ashford.meikle@gleanerjm.com