Cellphones to replace ATM cards
Cellphones may soon replace plastic cards for withdrawing and depositing money. Some banks have already started testing the technology and may implement it later this year. ICICI Bank has already started experimenting with card less transactions though it is not known which company’s technology platform they use. The bank has recently launched card less remittance service. Apart from that, a Bengaluru based mobile payment solution provider mChek is working with banks in India and abroad to roll-out its card-less technology platform. An employee of the firm, focused on mobile bill payment , recharge, flight bookings, and movie ticketing, says mobile phones can be the second level of authentication, beyond passwords, for establishing identities. Airtel has this technology already in use. Using two levels, rather than just one, implies a greater level of assurance. Currently, when an ATM card is inserted into a machine and a pin entered, the combination of the two, which is registered wit