Singapore will be the fifth country worldwide to get Samsung Pay. Singapore’s connectivity and openness are ideal conditions for our new mobile service to thrive, together with the interest and readiness of consumers here in adopting this new method of payment.
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“Digital wallets have seen the fastest uptake among consumers in Singapore with a four-fold increase, compared to a year before”, said Ms Deborah Heng, group head and general manager, MasterCard Singapore.
Consumers can make a payment on Samsung Pay by swiping up on their compatible Samsung smartphone to bring up the last transacted MasterCard credit or debit card, scan their fingerprint and make payment.
It will launch with support from American Express, MasterCard and Visa and major banks including Citibank Singapore, DBS Bank Singapore, POSB Bank Singapore, OCBC Bank and Standard Chartered.
“We are excited to bring this service to Singapore consumers and we hope to introduce value-added services to drive and lead innovation in mobile commerce”, said Mr Thomas Ko, vice-president and global general manager of Samsung Pay.
The mobile payment service will debut there on June 16 for people who have a Samsung Galaxy smartphone.
To prevent fraud, Samsung Pay uses an encrypted digital token to replace sensitive card information, and all transactions made via the service require fingerprint or PIN for authorisation. Samsung’s industry-leading KNOX security platform, which received the most “Strong” ratings of any mobile security platform for Corporate Managed Security5, provides real-time kernel protection and monitors malicious software and activities on your device for added security.
Five banks in Singapore may have been quick to announce their respective credit and debit cards’ compatibility with Apple Pay last month, but Citibank Singapore appears to be going against the tide.
Samsung Pay allows users to register their credit card details on selected Samsung smartphones with Near-Field Communication (NFC) wireless technology. This magnetic signal is sent to the payment terminal’s card reader and emulates the swiping of a physical card.
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It also has a $100 cap for most transactions.
