TOKYO -- Japan's dominant wireless carrier, NTT DoCoMo, is set to offer the world's first service that lets people withdraw money from ATMs installed in convenience stores and supermarkets using cellphones instead of bank cards.
IY Bank, a unit of retailer Ito-Yokado Co Ltd, and DoCoMo will jointly launch the service that will allow depositors to use DoCoMo's 504i series handsets to access the bank's ATMs, according to a report in the Nihon Keizai Shimbun business daily.
"It is true that we are studying a service with ATMs using DoCoMo's 504i," an IY Bank spokesman told the newspaper, adding that the service would not start before year's end.
The service would enable users of high-speed 504i handsets, which are equipped with a chip onto which account information can be stored, to deposit or withdraw cash.
DoCoMo said it would cooperate with IY Bank in the new service, but declined to elaborate, saying the project was predominantly led by IY Bank.
DoCoMo started a service last summer that allows people to buy drinks at vending machines using their cellphones in cooperation with Coca-Cola (Japan) Co Ltd.
Under the system, customers pay a set amount of money in advance for future purchases of drinks. Vending machines specially designed for the service read the bar code on the customers' handsets and allow them a cashless purchase.
IY Bank, set up last year by top Japanese retailer Ito-Yokado as part of attempts by non-financial firms to break into the banking business, offers ATM services at supermarkets and convenience stores.
The bank currently has 4,098 ATMs nationwide and aims to boost the number to 5,000 by the end of March. Its ATMs are located in 7-11 stores, which are owned by Ito-Yokado.
Under agreements IYBank has with four traditional banks, Sanwa Bank, Asahi Bank, Shizuoka Bank and Chiba Bank, customers of those banks can access their accounts through IY Bank ATMs. In return, IY Bank receives interchange fees.
IY Bank President Takashi Anzai has said that his bank's goal is to break even in three years of operation by ensuring each of its IY Bank ATMs is used at least 70 times a day on average. In late 2001, its ATMs averaged 20 transactions a day, according to a Reuters report.
