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Kyodo News : Using cell phones with credit card functions to make purchases is expected to be a big thing this year as major credit card firms scramble to get shops and stores to accept such payments. The reward could be lucrative -- the new market is estimated to be worth 60 trillion yen. NTT DoCoMo Inc. executive Takeshi Natsuno said a service allowing consumers to hold mobile phones over contactless credit card readers to pay for goods is likely to become more commonplace this year. "(2006) will be the year when cell phones and credit cards will join together," Matsuno predicted. Credit card companies started entering this emerging market last year. JCB Co. began issuing Quickpay cards in April, followed by UFJ Nicos Co. with Smartplus in August and Sumitomo Mitsui Card Co.'s iD in December. Meanwhile, NTT DoCoMo and other cell phone carriers are upgrading their "osaifu keitai" mobile phones, which are equipped with contactless IC cards that can be used to p...

BANK Islam Malaysia Bhd seeks to increase the number of its credit cardholders to 220,000 from the current 120,000 by June 2006. Its general manager of consumer banking group, Datuk Wan Ismail Wan Yusoh, said the bank is confident of achieving the target based on the response of consumers toward its credit card since the bank launched the Syariah-based credit card in 2003. Wan Ismail said the bank is also confident of raising its credit card base in view of the higher market potential through its co-branding initiatives with several organisations such as Universiti Utara Malaysia, Tabung Haji and Malaysian Building Society Bhd. He was speaking to reporters after a prize presentation ceremony in Kuala Lumpur yesterday for the winners of Bank Islam-MasterCard’s reality programme “Baru Aku Tahu” aired on the ntv7 television channel. Deputy Minister of Information Datuk Zainuddin Maidin witnessed the event. The programme, which focused on family values as well as the importance of proper f...