Samsung Pay launches in Spain, UK next

Samsung has announced the launch in Spain of Samsung Pay, the first country in Europe to receive the service following successful launches in South Korea, the United States and China. Samsung Pay is also the first mobile payments service of its kind to be launched in the Spanish market.

The company plans to roll out the service to at least four more European markets over the next year, the UK being one of them.

“Our goal with Samsung Pay is to drive and lead innovation in mobile commerce, giving consumers a safer, smarter and better mobile wallet,” said Victor Kim, Global Director, Samsung Pay. “Samsung operates an open model of partnership and collaboration to deliver the best possible customer experience. With Samsung Pay, we’re confident that we’re providing Spanish customers with the mobile payments service that they’re looking for.”

“We are proud that Spain is the first European market to introduce Samsung Pay, an innovative new service that we believe will mark a turning point both in Spaniards’ payments behaviour and the evolution of the payments market as a whole,” commented Celestino García, Corporate Vice President, Samsung Spain. “The opportunity for Samsung Pay in Spain is significant, due to the high smartphone penetration rate and the digitalisation of the banking sector. Moreover, according to recent research[1] commissioned by Samsung, nearly six in 10 Spaniards are interested in incorporating a secure, simple and widely accepted payments service like Samsung Pay into their lives.”

NFC-enabled, Samsung Pay-ready devices include the Samsung Galaxy S7, S7 edge, S6, S6 edge and S6 edge+, with specific availability varying by local operator. The Galaxy A5 2016 will also support Samsung Pay in the coming weeks. 

New research conducted by Ipsos for Samsung Spain found that half of Spaniards aged between 35 and 65 carry more than two debit or credit cards in their wallets. According to the survey:

• 64 percent of consumers use credit or debit cards for all or most of their purchases;
• This figure rises to 71 percent among people aged between 35 and 44; and
• In order to enjoy even greater convenience and efficiency when shopping, 58 percent of Spaniards would like to use a secure, simple and widely accepted mobile payments solution.
   

Samsung Pay meets these requirements, offering three layers of security, ease-of-use and the option to pay at any location with a contactless point-of-sale (POS) terminal. Using the service does not incur an additional cost for users or businesses, as they simply need an NFC-compatible POS terminal. Users can also add up to 10 cards to the Samsung Pay application, without incurring additional charges from their banks.

With regards to mobile security, 90 percent of respondents surveyed were concerned about losing their device and someone accessing their card data. In order to deliver maximum security, Samsung Pay includes fingerprint identification, which guarantees that if your mobile phone is lost or stolen, no one will be able to access your payments information.

Samsung Pay already has a strong alliance of partners and supports eligible credit and debit cards from more than 200 major global and regional banks. In addition, Samsung Pay is compatible with payments networks, including American Express, China UnionPay, MasterCard, Visa Inc. and China’s leading third-party payments platform, Alipay.

The service is already available for customers of CaixaBank and imaginBank, which will be the first in Spain and Europe to benefit from Samsung Pay.  After the launch of the service beginning today, users can download their CaixaBank and imaginBank debit or credit cards on their smartphones in order to make payments.

Samsung Pay is compatible with all stores that already have contactless terminals and the company is working closely with leading businesses from retail, food and service stations and parking services sectors to create value-added services for their customers. This includes well-known brands like Cepsa, Cervecería La Sureña, Domino’s Pizza,  El Corte Inglés, Fridays, Ginos, Grupo DIA, MediaMarkt, Mercadona, Phone House, Repsol, Rodilla, Saba, Starbucks, The Good Burger, The Wok, VIPS, VIPSmart, 100 Montaditos, with more to follow in due course.

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Read the June 2016 issue of Business Review Europe magazine.