Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. announced today that its mobile payment service, Samsung Pay, has launched in South Africa. The service is now available in 24 markets worldwide and the launch underscores the company’s ongoing commitment to delivering a secure and convenient mobile wallet experience to consumers globally.
Here’s what you should know about Samsung Pay
Samsung Pay is the most widely accepted mobile payment platform, enabling users to make mobile payments almost anywhere. It uses both MST and NFC technology. It’s the first of its kind in Africa. The service offers the ultimate flexible payment solution that features the benefits of both a physical and mobile wallet to make in-store purchases safer, and simpler.
The service gives users full control of their digital payment journey by ensuring all transactions are secure and authenticated by the user. It features Samsung’s defence-grade Samsung Knox security platform and biometric authentication through iris or fingerprint scanning.
Users can have peace of mind that their personal payment information is safe. Every payment is more secure with tokenization. This means that actual card information is never exposed during a transaction.
Who can access Samsung Pay in South Africa?
The service is currently available for ABSA and Standard Bank customers with supported Mastercard and Visa payment cards. The service also offers support for Avios credit cards, British Airways credit cards and Virgin Money cards. Besides this, it also supports the ability to load loyalty cards, so it’s not just about spending money; it also enables seamless point or miles-gathering.
“Samsung Pay works almost anywhere you can swipe, insert or tap a card, so as the first country in Africa to implement this, we are hugely excited about how it’s going to transform our customers’ lives. It’s committed to driving the mobile wallet movement in Africa, and this launch furthers Samsung’s dedication to delivering innovative services to consumers everywhere.” says Craige Fleischer, Vice President of Integrated Mobility for Samsung South Africa.
Samsung Pay is part of the constantly-evolving contact-less payment revolution
While cash might not be dead, and cards still dominate the payments landscape, the world of contact-less payments is evolving faster than ever before. The way consumers make payments is changing faster than any area of financial services, impacted by rapid changes in digital technology, competitive forces and consumer demands.
Tshipi Alexander, Head of Consumer Issuing at Absa Retail and Business Banking, says, “Making a payment has become so much more than just making a transaction and is now also about the experience. Therefore, many of the developments in financial technology we have introduced over the past few years have been about making the buying process quicker and more convenient. The arrival of Samsung Pay now gives Absa customers even more choice on how they can make payments. It will allow them to make simple, quick and highly secure payments with their Samsung phone when purchasing goods at most retailers on both contactless and non-contactless terminals where they currently use their Absa cards – without ever having to get their card from their wallet,”
Ethel Nyembe, Standard Bank SA Head of Card Issuing, says, “We want to make sure that Standard Bank’s payment solutions become the preferred choice for digital experiences – whether it be traditional cards, virtual cards, tap to pay, or Samsung Pay. Customers retain their plastic cards, but we are making sure that people who want to go beyond traditional payment methods can now participate in an exciting mobile payments world, which is getting bigger every day.”
How to start using Samsung Pay
To start using Samsung Pay, Samsung users should upgrade to the latest software version for their eligible Samsung Galaxy smartphone and simply download the Samsung Pay app from the Google Play store.
They should then register or log in to their Samsung account, select a preferred method of verification by fingerprint, iris scan or PIN, scan a debit, credit or cheque card with the camera and verify the card details.
To make payments, users can simply launch the app by swiping up from the home screen or lock screen, authenticate with their iris, fingerprint or PIN, then tap or hold their Samsung device close to the payment terminal.
Because the service works on both magnetic secure transmissions (MST) and near-field communication (NFC) point of sales terminals, vendors do not need to change their current point of sale machines to accommodate this breakthrough technology.
Samsung Pay payments are highly secure
“We have been a pioneer of mobile commerce innovation for years and are excited to work with Samsung to deliver new frictionless payment options to consumers, in turn helping to accelerate the adoption of digital payments in South Africa. Every Samsung Pay transaction made with Mastercard is highly secure. A critical part of this is our ability to tokenise cardholder details, where a ‘token’ and not a real card number is provided to the shop, offering both consumers and retailers all the safety benefits and guarantees of a transaction made with a physical card.” says Mark Elliott, Division President at Mastercard, Southern Africa.
“We are thrilled to expand mobile payment options for Visa cardholders in South Africa.Today’s launch of Samsung Pay gives Visa cardholders a mobile payment solution that is further strengthened by the security of Visa Token Service technology and which enables safe and easy contactless in-store payments with their Samsung mobile. Considering the number of smart phone users in South Africa is expected to reach over 25 million by 2022, we are seeing that the phone is the one item people always have with them and Visa supports payment solutions that fit people’s changing lifestyles.” says Geraldine Mitchley, Head of Digital Solutions for Visa in Sub Saharan Africa.
This will most-likely change the shopping landscape forever – with super-secure, convenient and easy payment using favourite credit, debit and loyalty cards all on one device. For more information, visit the Samsung South Africa website.
Watch this space for updates in the Technology category on Running Wolf’s Rant.
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