Going big in Russia, Samsung Electronics today announced a new Samsung Pay partnership with Sberbank.
Samsung Pay is a secure and easy-to-use mobile wallet solution that is accepted virtually everywhere. It is already available with six other major banks in Russia. These include Alfa Bank JSC, VTB 24 OJSC, MTS OJSC, Reiffeisen Bank JSC, Russian Standard Bank JSC, and Yandex LLC. Starting November 8, Sberbank customers with Mastercard credit or debit cards can register them for use with the service. With the latest partnership, the service now covers 65% of all private bank accounts in the country.
Arkadij Grad, Head of Samsung Mobile Russia, said, “We’re delighted to announce the availability of Samsung Pay for Sberbank customers. With this partnership,Samsung Pay now covers 65 percent of all private bank accounts in Russia and 80 percent of the country’s urban population.”
The mobile wallet service can transmit credit and debit cards via Near Field Communication (NFC) and a new proprietary technology called Magnetic Secure Transmission (MST). It works at virtually all merchant locations without any merchant POS system changes.
Customers can use the service by simply opening the Samsung Pay app and tap their compatible Samsung smartphone against the near field communication (NFC) or magnetic secure transmission (MST) reader to make a payment. Users can also simply swipe up on their eligible Galaxy smartphone, scan their fingerprint and pay.
Mr. Alexander Torbakhov, Deputy Chairman of the Sberbank Board, said: “Very soon credit cards will become a relic of the past. Smartphones and smartwatches that let users pay for purchases quickly and safely will replace cards. Now Sberbank customers can use a convenient Samsung Pay service and make payments with a single touch of the smartphone, almost anywhere payment cards are accepted.”
The wallet is built on top of the KNOX platform and provides excellent security features to protect customer information and credit/debit card details. The platforms incorporates features such as trusted boot, trusted app verification for use with the wallet service and mandatory access control to prevent fraud apps from making transactions.
The company announced the launch of its Samsung Pay services in Russia in October and intends to expand to 10 countries by the end of 2016.