The implementation of a Secured Transaction Framework by the Government of Jamaica was brought about by the passing of the Secured Interest in Personal Property (SIPP) Act on December 31, 2013 and the implementation of a national collateral registry subsequently dubbed the National Security Interest in Personal Property (NSIPP) Registry January 02, 2014. The project was implemented through the collaborative effort of the Ministry of Industry Investment and Commerce (MIIC), Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) through Compete Caribbean, eGov Jamaica Limited (formerly Fiscal Services Limited), Companies Office of Jamaica (COJ), Jamaica Promotions Corporation (JAMPRO) and the solution provider, Paradigm Applications.
The Secured Transaction Framework campaign will modernise the quality and availability of domestic credit to the private sector, while effectively minimizing the risks of non-payment of loans. This will allow micro, small and medium enterprises greater access to loans as they will be able to use movable property as collateral to secure loans as opposed to land and buildings, while reducing the potential loss lenders may face from non-payment, as they now have assets they can seize to recover the value of the amount owing if the need arises.
In August 2013, eGov Jamaica Limited was contracted to manage the implementation of the collateral registry solution. Main responsibilities were to identify a suitable provider of a collateral registry solution and undertake evaluation exercises of various vendors to this end. Recommendations were made to the COJ, the entity with responsibility for the collateral registry, and a solution selected based on the vendor responses to the requirements provided and application demonstrations. Joint Application Design sessions were held with eGovJa, COJ and Paradigm Applications along with input from MIIC and the final requirements determined and the system built to specifications. Application training and user acceptance testing was carried out and the relevant modifications and sign-offs received in time to have the system soft launched on December 19, 2013.
The NSIPP Registry launched officially to the public on January 02, 2014 as scheduled, and within the fixed budget previously agreed with the financing stakeholders. eGov Jamaica Limited provided post implementation support to the COJ up to March 31, 2014.