South Korean tech giant Samsung seems ready to open up another flank in its battle against Apple by planning to introduce its own debit card. Samsung is teaming up with US digital lender SoFi to launch a Samsung Pay debit card backed by a cash management account.
While not much details have emerged on the card, it is learnt that it will be backed by a cash management account based on smartphones. It is not clear now as to which are the countries where Samsung Debit Cards will be launched.
Samsung Pay, its eponymous payments service, was initially launched in South Korea in August 2015 before launching in the US a few weeks later. In a blog to mark the five years of Samsung Pay, Sang Ahn, GM of Samsung Pay in North America said the new debit card will launch this summer.
Samsung Pay is also set to introduce a"mobile-first money management platform".
"In 2020, Samsung Pay will be expanding our service from being a rewarding way to shop and pay, to also being a rewarding way to manage money. Over the past year we have been busy developing a mobile-first money management platform. Now more than ever, mobile financial services and money management tools will play an even bigger role in our daily lives while also opening up new possibilities," Ahn said.
Contactless mobile payments the future
Samsung introduced its payments tool in 2015 with MST (Magnetic Secure Transmission) technology as well as Near Field Communication (NFC), a newer technology. NFC works with digital wallets and powers contactless payments. But in some emerging economies, NFC is not supported, making MST important.
Samsung Pay has increasingly grown in popularity, processing more than one billion transactions, almost double compared to 2018. By early 2019, Samsung Pay’s international presence grew to six global regions. By year-end 2019, it expanded into several new countries.
Contactless mobile payments are growing worldwide. Growth is being fueled in part because more retailers are participating. And it is clear that Samsung with its payments card is frontally taking on Apple which launched its credit card last year. Google is also said to be working on its own debit card.
The tech biggies seem ready for a battle royale on the financial front as well.
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