The Industrial & Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) is joining forces with Beijing-based e-payments firm 99Bill Corporation to launch a new phone-based payment service for Internet shoppers.
99Bill provides e-mail and mobile phone number-based online payment services.
Under the agreement the bank will team with 99bill to provide phone-based payment services to Internet users. To complete an online transaction, users will only need to access ICBC's '95588' payment services certified with an integration code.
99Bill says the deal will make it possible for users to make purchases and handle payment without logging on to the Internet.
Oliver Kwan, CEO of 99Bill says 99bill has clocked up over five million users since it was established in the first half of 2005, and inked 30 partnership deals with banks, Web sites and enterprises in China.