Samsung Pay has launched in beta across Sweden, the first Nordic country to see the mobile payment service rolled out, with support from debit and credit card providers Mastercard, Mastercard SAS, Visa, Eurocard, and banks Nordea and SEB. Other supporting financial institutions joining “shortly” include Handelsbanken, ICA Banken, Re:member, Swedbank and Ticket Rikskuponger.
The beta version is the “first version” of Samsung Pay being introduced in the country, Samsung says, and the company will “continue to develop and add services and compatible cards” as it continues to roll out.
“To use the service, you need a compatible device designed for the Nordic market, a Samsung account, a Swedish SIM card and a connected credit/debit card,” Samsung adds.
“Close to 100% of the payment terminals in Sweden accept Samsung Pay. Samsung Pay works without the stores needing to join or replace their terminals. That means it works in almost all places where you can pay by card.”
Samsung Pay is available on the following devices in Sweden — Galaxy A5 (2016), Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge. Samsung Pay beta will also work on the Galaxy A5 (2017) and the Frontier Gear S3 and S3 Gear Classic smartwatches “soon”.
‘Leading country’
“Sweden is the first Nordic country where Samsung Pay is made available and Sweden is also a leading country when it comes to using mobile payment services,” says Topi Manner, head of personal banking at Nordea Bank. “The smartphone penetration is very high and many of our customers are using a Samsung mobile device.”
Samsung Pay is now fully launched in 11 markets: South Korea, the US, China, Spain, Singapore, Australia, Brazil, Puerto Rico, Russia, Thailand and Malaysia. It launched through an early access programme in India last week.
Samsung Pay’s global general manager Thomas Ko told NFC World about the mobile payment service’s plans for “more and more aggressive expansion” during an exclusive interview at Money2020 in October 2016.
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