Cell phone-accessible ATMs coming in autumn
The Yomiuri Shimbun
Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. will introduce a service in autumn in which clients can deposit or withdraw money at automated teller machines using cell phones, the first service of its kind to be introduced by a major bank.
Sumitomo Mitsui Banking will remodel about 7,000 ATMs to provide the phone cash service.
Clients will use the service by holding cell phones equipped with noncontact integrated circuit chips over terminals that read information on IC chips, and then inputting their password.
The service ensures the same level of safety as when IC cards are used and offers a safer alternative to magnetic cards, from which information can be stolen easily.
Another member of Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Inc., Sumitomo Mitsui Card Co. launched a wallet phone service in partnership with NTT DoCoMo, Inc. called iD in December that allows clients to make payments using their cell phones. In the future, cell phones will be used not only as cash cards but also credit cards.
In Kansai, PiTaPa, a train-commuter payment card for private railways, also can be used for shopping. The financial group plans to make iD information terminals compatible with the card's terminals at stores. The group hopes to expand the areas where their clients can use the e-money function on cell phones.
In 2004, Ogaki Kyoritsu Bank introduced a similar service enabling customers to withdraw cash and check their balances at its ATMs.
(Jan. 27, 2006)
