Samsung Pay Reaches Southeast Asia, Feature To Be Released In Singapore on June 16!

Samsung Pay is expanding its reach after announcing that they will be introducing the product to the first Southeast Asian nation they will be reaching, Singapore.

According to Samsung, the Samsung Pay feature will be available starting June 16, 2016.

What Samsung Pay does is it can be used to make secure purchases anywhere. The app collects information from the user’s credit card and it can be integrated with the Samsung Pay app. With this feature, users will no longer need to carry their credit or debit cards with them all the time.

“Samsung Pay is the only mobile wallet that allows users to pay with their compatible Samsung smartphones at terminals that accept contactless payment as well as those that do not accept contactless payment.”

According to Vice President and Global Co-General Manager of Samsung Pay at Samsung Electronics Thomas Ko, since their first introduction of Samsung Pay in the market, they have seen “great momentum” from the consumers.

“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, giving consumers a safer, smarter and better mobile wallet.”

As for the Singapore market, Samsung Electronics is “extremely excited” for the feature to be available in the area.

“We are extremely excited that Samsung Pay is now available in Singapore. As the first market in Southeast Asia to roll out our mobile payment service, Singapore will pave the way for the region’s adoption of Samsung Pay,” said Stephen Suh, President, Samsung Electronics Singapore.

Su added that they have already made “extensive partnerships” with different card networks and users in Singapore and that they are ready to introduce it to the market.

Samsung’s president also said that they aim for Samsung Pay to simplify the mobile payment service.

“By supporting both contactless and non contactless payment, we are confident that this benefit will help to drive consumer adoption for Samsung Pay. What’s more, you can transact any value on Samsung Pay, up to the amount of your credit card limit.”

Samsung Pay Singapore to Open Up Perfect Merchant-Consumer Ecosystem

With Samsung Pay’s partnership offerings, Samsung wishes to expand their reach to more merchants and banks in Singapore. At present, they already have established partnerships with American Express, MasterCard, Visa, Citibank, DBS/POSB, OCBC Bank and Standard Chartered.

Samsung reassured the Singapore users that the app is already available to all major and independent retailers in the market. For merchants that do not have updated Samsung terminals yet, they can simply get Samsung Pay’s proprietary MST (Magnetic Secure Transmission) technology.

Here are the types of merchants Samsung Pay Singapore is accepting:

· Supermarkets and Convenience Stores

· Departmental Stores

· Healthcare and Beauty Outlets

· Food and Beverage Outlets

· Fashion and Lifestyle Outlets

· Electronics and Furnishing Stores

· Travel and Entertainment

“Samsung Pay is accepted almost anywhere you can swipe or tap your credit or debit card. By incorporating Samsung’s proprietary MST technology, together with NFC (Near Field Communication), Samsung Pay will be compatible with the majority of existing and new payment terminals, allowing users to pay with their compatible Samsung smartphone almost anywhere. Thanks to MST, Singapore users can also use Samsung Pay for transactions above $100.”

Samsung claims that the tool is highly secure. They are using encrypted fingerprint information and PIN authorization for secure transactions. Samsung’s leading security platform, KNOX, also powers the system. KNOX has received “Strong” ratings for having real-time kernel protection and efficient monitoring of malicious software.

Samsung Pay is one of Samsung’s outlets that aim to unify their brand’s seamless mobile experiences.

Samsung Pay Singapore will be available on Samsung Galaxy Note 5 4G+, S6 edge+ 4G+, S7 4G+ and S7 edge 4G+.

[Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images]