Hong Kong’s JETCO to Build M-Payment Platform Using NFC (Oct. 16, 2013)
Joint Electronic Teller Services Limited (JETCO), along with its 30 member banks, announced plans to build a mobile payment platform that uses NFC technology. The Hong Kong-based ATM service provider says the initiative is an attempt to diversify the company in case m-payments cause a drop in ATM usage, according to South China Morning Post.
“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,” John Tsang Hin-kau, JETCO deputy general manager, told the Post. “Our NFC technology service can help compensate for the potential declining use of ATMs in the future.”
Though China is not among the top countries in terms of cashless consumer spending, it has had the most rapid shift, with cash usage declining by as much as 20 percent between 2006 and 2011, according to a recent report by MasterCard Advisors.
Bank of China Hong Kong (BOCHK) said it would be the first bank to try out JETCO’s platform this year, in addition to its own m-payment solutions, and JETCO expects at least four other banks to launch the service by early next year. JETCO was established in 1982 by five banks: BOCHK, The Bank of East Asia Ltd., Wing Hang Bank Ltd., Shanghai Commercial Bank Ltd. and Wing Lung Bank Ltd.
