Jetco, the largest automated teller machine network in Hong Kong and Macau, is joining the mobile payments scrum. The South China Morning Post reports that the network will team up with its 30 member banks to build a mobile payment platform using near-field communication technology.

Jetco expects five banks to launch the service by the first quarter of next year, the newspaper said, and hopes to handle a million accounts in five years.

As China's mobile payments market emerges, the country's leading banks are scrambling for a slice of the pie. HSBC and Hang Seng Bank launched their services last year, the paper reports, while last week, Hang Seng offered electronic coupons to boost spending through its service.

And Bank of China (Hong Kong) said last week it had invited more than 100,000 clients to try out its mobile payment service, while Octopus Card followed with an announcement that it would introduce its service on special SIM cards for smartphones, according to SCMP.

"The need for people to draw money directly from ATMs could be declining on the back of increasing online payment and the use of electronic money," Jetco Deputy General Manager John Tsang Hin-kau told the newspaper.

While ATM usage has slowed to the single digits in recent years, compared with 10 percent to 20 percent usage decades ago, the newspaper added that it's still unclear that mobile payments will become popular.

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