Samsung unveils Samsung Pay

This summer Samsung will launch a secure and easy-to-use mobile payment service at more merchant locations than competing offerings

Today Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. announced the latest in mobile payment services, Samsung Pay, which allows consumers to transition to secure mobile payments at nearly all merchant locations.

To date, mobile wallets have had extremely low acceptance with merchants utilizing conventional magstripe terminals. With Samsung Pay, consumers can now utilize their mobile devices to pay at existing point-of-sale terminals. To achieve this, Samsung leverages both Near Field Communication (NFC) and a new proprietary technology called Magnetic Secure Transmission (MST) to make mobile payments more accessible to merchants and consumers than ever before.

To deliver a best-in-class mobile payment solution, Samsung has partnered with major payment networks such as MasterCard and Visa. Additionally, Samsung is working hard to expand the partnership ecosystem for Samsung Pay with key financial partners globally, including American Express, Bank of America, Citi, JPMorgan Chase, and U.S. Bank, to provide greater flexibility, access, and choice for customers while enabling a simple and secure payment experience.

“Samsung Pay will reinvent how people pay for goods and services and transform how they use their smartphones,” said JK Shin, CEO and Head of IT & Mobile Communications Division at Samsung Electronics. “The secure and simple payment process, coupled with our robust partner network, makes Samsung Pay a truly game-changing service that will bring value to consumers and our partners in the ecosystem.”

“Mobile commerce just got a lot more interesting,” said Jim McCarthy, Executive Vice President, Visa Inc. “Combining Visa’s expertise in payment technology with Samsung’s leadership in creating innovative mobile experiences, gives more choice to financial institutions who want to enable their customers to pay by phone.”

“We are committed to making interactions easier in the financial lives of our customers,” said Brian Moynihan, CEO, Chairman and Director of Bank of America. “Samsung Pay is another significant move in that direction for our 17 million mobile customers.”

Expansive Coverage

Samsung Pay has the potential of being accepted at approximately 30 million merchant locations worldwide, making it the only mobile payment solution with near universal acceptance. Samsung offers this capability by deploying a groundbreaking technology called Magnetic Secure Transmission (MST). Consumers can use Samsung Pay in merchant locations regardless of whether the terminals support NFC or traditional magstripe, which is the vast majority of existing terminals.

In addition, the MST technology enables Samsung Pay to support private label credit cards (PLCC) with the cooperation of key partners, including Synchrony Financial and First Data Corporation. The engagement with merchants, issuing banks, and major payment networks offers customers the opportunity to use a wide range of payment cards and makes Samsung Pay a truly universal mobile payment solution.

Margaret Keane, President and CEO of Synchrony Financial, the largest provider of private label credit cards in the U.S., noted, “This is great news for our customers who can access their cards and make payments using Samsung Pay and great news for our retailers who won’t have to upgrade their point of sale terminals. We look forward to working with Samsung and others to deliver secure mobile payments for our 60 million active accounts.”

Simple and Fast

With Samsung Pay, consumers will benefit from a simple and easy-to-use application leading to a positive consumer experience. Adding a card requires a few simple steps. Once added, the user simply swipes up from the bezel to invoke the Samsung Pay app, chooses the desired payment card, and authenticates with the fingerprint sensor. Tapping the device to the point-of-sale (POS) terminals allows for a fast, secure, and easy purchase.

Secure and Private

Samsung is deeply committed to upholding security and user data privacy to the highest industry standards. Samsung Pay does not keep personal account numbers on a consumer’s device. In addition, Samsung Pay provides many security features that make it safer than a physical card. When combined with tokenization – replacing sensitive card data with a unique, secure token to prevent fraud – Samsung Pay will deliver secure mobile payments worldwide.

“We are excited to work with Samsung as they deliver Samsung Pay to consumers around the globe,” said Ed McLaughlin, chief emerging payments officer, MasterCard. “The security and simplicity we are able to deliver through our digital enablement service is rapidly changing the way consumers can shop. The launch of Samsung Pay will continue to drive momentum for mobile payments and provide a broader set of digital experiences.”

Samsung’s payment security is enhanced by its own mobile security platform (Samsung KNOX^TM) and ARM TrustZone® working together to protect transaction information from fraudsters and data attacks. Moreover, in the case of a lost phone, Samsung’s Find My Mobile feature enables users to locate, lock and even wipe their devices remotely; ensuring Samsung Pay data is hardly compromised.

Samsung Pay will initially be available in the United States and Korea this coming summer and expand to other regions, including Europe and China with Samsung Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge.