The emergence of payment services through mobile phones has put a virtual withdrawal machine in consumers' hands, enabling 8 million mobile users in China to buy insurance or book tickets with a flick of their fingers.

Promising consumers "safe and convenient payment at any place at any time," China UnionPay, a central bank arm that provides a nationwide electronic payment network, developed this service, which connects users' bank accounts with their mobile phone numbers.

Nearly 8 billion yuan worth of payments was transacted in this way in the first 10 months of the year as the service gradually expanded to 21 provinces and cities across the country.

Consumers found they could save the trouble of queuing impatiently at the banks. Instead, they can send instructions through text messages to pay for anything, from phone services to insurance.

Although only 8 million customers use the service, a small number compared with the total number of mobile phone users in China, UnionPay is confident that the service will "run in the fast lane" as more Chinese who used to carry cash around embrace diversified payment methods.

On Monday, commercial banks started to offer cross-bank services. Chinese customers can now make deposits and cash withdrawals at different banks, regardless of where they keep their accounts.

At the same time, more services based on the ubiquity of mobile phones are being developed. China Mobile recently joined with leading securities firms and financial newspapers to launch a new service that provides key information on capital markets to subscribers.

(Xinhua News Agency November 23, 2007)