Singapore first in S-E Asia to launch Samsung Pay
Samsung Pay lets users buy goods by tapping their phone on the card reader. Photo: Samsung
SINGAPORE — The Republic will be the first country in South-east Asia in which Samsung Pay can be used, from June 16, further enlivening the mobile payments market here.
The Samsung mobile payment service is currently available in South Korea, the United States, China and Spain. Its launch comes on the heels of the Apple Pay service in Singapore being extended to customers of major banks in late May.
Users with compatible Samsung smartphones can use the mobile wallet app almost anywhere credit or debit cards are accepted, including at almost 40 preferred retailers like NTUC FairPrice, electronics stores such as Challenger, and F&B outlets like Toast Box.
Samsung Pay can be used by customers with MasterCard and Visa credit or debit cards from major banks — Citibank, DBS Bank, POSB Bank, OCBC Bank and Standard Chartered. American Express cards will soon be added to the service, said Samsung on Friday (June 10).
Samsung Pay can be used at traditional credit card terminals as well as newer NFC (Near Field Communication)-enabled contactless terminals, with Samsung’s Magnetic Secure Transmission (MST) technology, which enables the phone to send magnetic waves wirelessly to the standard card reader, replicating a card swipe. With MST, users can also pay for transactions above S$100, which is the current limit for most contactless payments in Singapore.
Samsung Pay will be available on the Samsung Galaxy Note 5 4G+, S6 edge+ 4G+, S7 4G+ and S7 edge 4G+.
Users swipe on their phones to select a credit or debit card, scan their fingerprint or key in a PIN and make payment. An encrypted digital token is used to replace sensitive card information in each separate transaction.
Samsung’s foray into mobile payments in Singapore comes after Apple Pay was launched here in April, first for American Express-issued cards, and then extended to customers of DBS/POSB, UOB, OCBC and Standard Chartered on May 25.
Before Apple Pay, there were other cashless payment initiatives — such as the NFC technology via phones, and CEPAS (Specification for Contactless e-Purse Application) — which saw limited results.
With Samsung Pay, the mobile wallet scene in Singapore looks set to take off, with banks already seeing strong numbers of cardholders registering their cards for Apple Pay.
OCBC said it has close to 40,000 cards registered for use with Apple Pay. TODAY understands the number is 47,000 for DBS and POSB, and more than 19,000 for UOB.
