Samsung Pay has launched in the UK. Visa account holders can now use their compatible Samsung smartphones for purchases worldwide.
Visa’s tokenisation service enables cardholders to add their Visa credit and debit cards quickly and easily to the Samsung Pay wallet and pay at contactless POS terminals. Samsung Pay is now available to Visa cardholders who bank with MBNA, Nationwide and Santander.
When a consumer loads their card into Samsung Pay, the app uses Visa tokenisation to replace the consumer’s sensitive account information with a different series of numbers – a “token” – that is specific to that card and device.
Payments are made using the token so that the card information is never exposed, adding another layer of safety to digital payments. If the phone is compromised or stolen, the token cannot be used in any other environment and can easily be deactivated without requiring the Visa account to be cancelled.
“Today’s launch of Samsung Pay gives Visa account holders a mobile payment solution that enables safe and easy contactless in-store payments with their Samsung mobile,” comments Kevin Jenkins, Regional Managing Director, UK and Ireland, Visa.
“The phone is the one item people always have with them and Visa supports payment solutions that fit people’s changing lifestyles.”
Mobile Payment gets more popular
Visa’s 2016 Digital Payment study shows that there is high consumer demand for mobile payment solutions in the UK, with over 94% of the UK’s 18-24 years olds already using their mobile device to monitor their money or make payments.
In fact, Visa predicts that payments from mobile devices will comprise 50% of all worldwide transactions by 2020. According to the study, more than four in ten people in the UK use their phones to pay bills (42%), buy takeaway food (45%), and pay for bus or train tickets (41%.
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