Mobile giant NTT Docomo announces plans for mobile cash transfer

Mobile banking and finance has walked a rocky road - while it’s a fantastically useful service, it has had to deal with massive trust issues from consumers. Japanse mobile operator NTT Docomo has announced it’s planning an incredibly simple banking service with Mizuho Bank, that will allow consumers to transfer money with just a mobile phone number.

The planned service would be incredibly simple to use. Subscribers would simply enter the mobile phone number of the person or entity they want to transfer money too. The only current limitation would be that the recipient must also have an NTT Docomo account, to which the operator can attach bank account details. This means that you could transfer money to someone without knowing their account details - you just need the number.

This kind of service, where a company acts on behalf of a bank, was made legal in Japan in 2006. Pending approval, NTT Docomo will be offering this service by summertime. Initially, users will be able to send a maximum of about 230 euro per month. But NTT Docomo expects introduce more banking options if the service if popular, so that maximum amount will raise in the future.

What we think?

So many problems with mobile transactions and payments could be solved if this kind of solution were to become widespread. Initiating an action on behalf of a bank, rather than handling the transaction yourself, would really help on mobile purchases. Various companies offer services like that all already. The real beauty of this service is its simplicity. With most of the crunchy work being handled behind the scenes by the bank, this would really help payment conversions for mobile merchants. Even payment pages would become clearer - imagine a simple “click this telephone number to initiate payment” function.