Samsung Pay has become the first smartphone wallet provider to win the support of Australia’s ‘Big 4’ banks, following an agreement with NAB announced this morning.
As more consumers choose smartphones for everyday payments, the news will likely provide Samsung a leg up over rivals.
The announcement comes shortly after the unveiling of Samsung’s new flagship smartphones, the Galaxy S9 & S9+, which are said to have achieved a record number of Australian pre-sales.
Samsung Pay is now available for customers of NAB, Commonwealth, Westpac, Bankwest and 45 other Australian financial institutions.
Customers can use Samsung Pay’s platform to load up their VISA/Debit cards, and make payments via Samsung’s wearable and smartphone devices.
Loyalty cards are also factored digitally in at point of sale, making for easy reward point accrual, and a reduced reliance on a physical wallet.
Complimenting several security features, Samsung Pay provides a tokenised card number for users, thereby ensuring no sensitive card information is stored on devices. The Samsung Pay app is housed on the company’s security platform, Knox.
Pre-payment authorisation is required via PIN, iris or fingerprint.
Lost devices can be locked, and Samsung Pay blocked, via remote access to its ‘Find My Phone’ website.
NAB Executive General Manager of Consumer Lending, Angus Gilfillan, affirms Samsung Pay is a “safe and secure” platform, which will compliment the bank’s own app:
“In addition to our own mobile banking app and NAB Pay, we are continuing to invest in giving our customers the best digital payments experience”
“We know our customers increasingly want to be able to pay for their purchases quickly and conveniently, and Samsung Pay is a safe and secure digital wallet that they can now use”.
Winning the support of Australia’s ‘Big 4’ is an “important milestone” for Samsung, following the launch of Samsung Pay in June 2016.
“Today’s announcement also represents an important milestone as we are now able to provide Samsung Pay to all major banking customers across the nation”, states Samsung Australia Head of Product and Services, Mark Hodgson.
We believe that our collaboration with partners like NAB will help further enhance our mobile experience for Australians and look forward evolving the portfolio further over the upcoming year”.
