Mobile operators expand into mobile payments and mobile credit

Mobile phones use qr codes for payments

Japan’s mobile operators DoCoMo, KDDI/AU and SoftBank are expanding their business into mobile payment and mobile credit, traditionally the realm of banks, credit card companies, financial institutions and cash. With the bubble/post-bubble bad loans problem largely resolved and the mega-mergers completed, Japan’s banks are now ready again to develop new business.

Customer’s camera phone reads the barcode or QR-code on an utility bill or mailorder invoice, and forwards secure payment instructions to the customer’s bank account.

What is the expected impact?

1. Expect positive impact on Mizuho’s earnings
2. Today such payments are typically made by walking to the nearest convenience store: expect negative impact on convenience stores which handle much of the barcode based bill payments today
3. Expect additional competitors with alternative methods to compete with Mizuho in the domain of mobile phone based bill payments

More about mobile payments in our “Mobile Payment and Keitai Credit Report”

More about QR codes in our “QR Code Report”

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