Need cash from an ATM? You soon may be able to ask your smartphone for help.

Pittsburgh-based PNC Bank is set to join a growing list of big banks offering “virtual” ATM card service that allows cardless transactions at automated teller machines.

Customers start the transaction on their phones, then go to an ATM to complete it by entering a personal identification number and a one-time code generated by a smartphone app.

PNC spokeswoman Marcey Zwiebel said the service is coming this year but declined to be more specific about when or where it would be available.

“It’s too early to say anything more,” she said.

Last month, San Francisco-based Wells Fargo announced plans for similar cardless ATM service at a limited number of machines in the second half of this year.

And Charlotte-based Bank of America has said it will begin its own pilot program during the first half of the year.

PNC, this region’s dominant bank, says the primary goal of the service is more convenience for customers.

In addition, the technology will help combat “skimming” fraud in which criminals install hard-to-see skimming devices at ATMs to steal card numbers used to make counterfeit cards. The skimmers usually are used in tandem with tiny hidden cameras that capture PINs.

“[Better] security is a benefit of using this type of technology,” Ms. Zwiebel said. “But for us, the primary driver is convenience for our customers.”

Wells Fargo said it also plans to roll out another type of cardless service that uses near field communication, or NFC, technology.

Customers will use smartphones equipped with NFC to authenticate transactions through thumbprints or passcodes and holding their phones near NFC-enabled ATM terminals. That service is planned for the second quarter, a Wells Fargo spokesman said.

Patricia Sabatini: PSabatini@post-gazette.com or 412-263-3066.

First Published: January 13, 2016, 5:00 a.m.
Updated: January 13, 2016, 5:14 a.m.