News

Hong Kong IAD pushed to enter the mobile marketplace

October 15, 2013

Joint Electronic Teller Services, the largest ATM provider in the city of Hong Kong, has partnered with its 30 member banks to develop an NFC-based mobile payments platform. The move reflects the anxiety among large FIs not to be left out of anticipated profits from an emerging financial market sector. 

According to a report by the South China Morning Post, Jetco expects that five banks will launch the service by Q1 of 2014. The company aims to have a million accountholders on board within five years. 

Jetco deputy general manager John Tsang Hin-kau told SCMP he expected the platform would allow customers to connect to their savings accounts to make payments, instead of having to connect to a credit card, which is the standard option.

Jetco reportedly sees the introduction of mobile payment services as a way to compensate for slowing growth in Hong Kong's ATM market. Tsang said that growth rates now are in the single digits, compared with rates of 10–20 percent in the past.

"The need for people to draw money directly from ATMs could be declining on the back of increasing online payment and the use of electronic money," Tsang told the publication. "Our NFC technology service can help compensate for the potential declining use of ATMs in the future," Tsang said.

Currently, Jetco operates 2,200 ATMs in the city of Hong Kong, as well as 400 units in Macau and another 400 on mainland China.

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