NTT DoCoMo Inc is planning to tie up with Mizuho Bank to enable cell phone subscribers to wire money to another subscriber without knowing the payee's bank account number, industry sources said Wednesday. DoCoMo customers will only be required to put the cell phone number of the payee into their phone and the payee will be required to specify bank accounts to which Mizuho Bank will transfer the money, the sources said.
Transfers are expected to be limited to about 30,000 yen a month for each subscriber, a DoCoMo spokesman said. Further details such as DoCoMo's banking partner and the service charge will be decided soon.
The move follows deregulation in the banking sector allowing non-financial firms to provide such services as money withdrawals, deposits and transfers, as well as personal loans.
DoCoMo has said it will focus on new services and technologies rather than trying to win new subscribers in Japan, where almost everyone already has a mobile telephone and the population is shrinking.
© Wire reports
11 Comments
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namabiru4me
Let the keitai money scams begin!
jonnyboy
what larks, pip!
jonnyboy
i enjoyed watching the CM at the cinema the other day with the obachan watching a film of herself being duped into a transfer and screaming at herself not to push the transfer button. just how can people be so easily gulled into doing this kind of thing?
nath
Payments for what goods or services is this beneficial? Enjyokosai pops to mind. Others?
jkoffman
Would you use your mobile for enjyokosai services, cash sounds like a better option.
nath
Yes - of course cash always works, so these payments must be assumed to be for when you do not have cash, or want to conserve it for some reason - such as to get through the rest of the day.
So for what goods or services is it beneficial to know nothing more about the other party than their cell phone number? (No name, bank account number, bank name, address, etc.) And of course no reciept either, so not for goods that might need to be returned.
Maybe flea market purchases?
nath
Sorry, Cash only works when you are face-to-face - so maybe there are some goods or services purchased at a distance where anonymity is important?
McC72
This shouldn't be news because some where last year I read on bbc Kenyans were doing it
nath
No offense intended to any Kenyans here – but Japan has such a vast investment in payment schemes – that I am surprised that another one makes any sense, given that it too will need to be managed, will consume resources, etc. I am assuming that Kenya and many other less industrialized countries may need to rely upon cell phones to conduct a lot of business, not just payments - but here in Japan?
polarmalik
Good idea, but can be dangerous to have this service. What if the user is kidnapped and his captors demand that he/she transfer money to their accounts and since the maximum withdrawal ceiling is 30,000 he/she may be held hostage for a long time period and unknown to the police - please think about this before starting the service
gonemad
There won't be any anonymity as both parties will see the transfer data on their bank statements.
I agree with others here that I can't see the usefulness of this new service but a lot of potential security traps.