NTT DoCoMo will become Japan’s first mobile operator to offer a convenient mobile service for overseas remittances, including phone-to-phone money transfers to the Philippines, when it launches DoCoMo Money Transfer on July 7. Remittances to the Philippines will be possible from i-mode-compatible DoCoMo phones to SMART Money, a reloadable payment card operated by Smart Communications. Beneficiaries will be able to confirm receipt promptly by accessing their SMART Money card via a Smart mobile phone.
Funds also can be sent from an i-mode phone in Japan to a beneficiary’s account at a participating bank or financial institution in Brazil, South Korea or China, as well as the Philippines, the four countries accounting for 80 percent of all foreign residents in Japan. Beneficiaries can quickly and safely retrieve the funds with a password and usual identification. Other countries are planned to be added, and smartphone users will be able to use the service in the coming future. Remittances will cost just 1,000 Yen ($12.39), much cheaper than many other overseas remittance services.