Japanese Banks Launch Smartphone Fund Transfer Service
Major Japanese banks and others have launched a money transfer service for individual clients using smartphones.
An event marking the launch was held in Tokyo on Tuesday.
Twenty banks, including MUFG, Sumitomo Mitsui, Mizuho and Resona, along with regional financial institutions, began the transfer service for amounts of up to 100,000 yen, or about 690 dollars.
Funds can be transferred between individual clients using smartphone applications linked to their bank accounts. Senders enter the receivers' smartphone number or mail address to complete the transactions.
More than 50 banks are expected to join the service in the future. Each bank will set up its own transfer fees.
But the 20 banks that launched the service on Tuesday are not charging fees. They said their total fee income will decrease, but that the service allows them to reduce cash management costs. They hope to enable money transfers to other smartphone settlement services in the future.
An official of the service provider said the launch means more than 200 million bank accounts are now linked. He said money transfers can be made between various applications, so he hopes the number of users will increase if they think the service is convenient.