Tuesday 26 September 2017
Samsung introduces latest series of enhanced wearables and new Samsung Pay loyalty programme — Samsung — “Consisting of three loyalty tiers – Gold, Silver and Bronze – users can level up across the tiers after meeting a target number of transactions. With each level-up achieved in the Samsung Rewards programme, users can get to earn more points per transaction, reaping additional rewards in return.”
Parliament: Cashless trial for public transport to be extended to more payment types from next year — The Straits Times — “A trial system that allows commuters to pay their public transport fares using contactless credit or debit cards will be extended to more payment types including Visa and Nets 2.0 from next June (2018). Mobile payment modes — such as Android Pay, Apple Pay and Samsung Pay — will also be available from the first quarter of next year as part of the trial.”
Samsung challenges Apple Watch with its new Gear Sport smartwatch — Yahoo Finance — “Like the Gear S3, the Gear Sport also includes NFC wireless capabilities to allow for Samsung Pay transactions. You can use the watch as a remote control for Samsung’s GearVR virtual-reality headset.”
Accumulated payments with Samsung Pay surpass W10tn — The Korea Herald — “Accumulated payments made with Samsung Pay surpassed 10tn won (US$8.77bn) in two years since the mobile payment service was launched, Samsung Electronics said Sunday. Use of the mobile pay service nearly quadrupled in a year after reaching 2tn won in the first year.”
“Combined, Apple Pay, Android Pay and Samsung Pay account for only about one quarter of 1% of US debit transactions,” the annual Debit Issuer Study from debit and ATM network Pulse has found, while the country’s move to EMV chip cards has cut debit card fraud loss rates but “fraud continues to challenge issuers.”... More
Bank of America, Samsung pilot iris-scan logins — American Banker — “Half of the bank’s mobile app users are using fingerprint authentication, which BofA rolled out in 2015. In addition to the iris scanning pilot, it is exploring the use of facial scanning and voice recognition.”
Report: Samsung Pay coming to third-party flagships in 2018 — Android Headlines — “The Samsung Pay mobile payments solution is currently in development for third-party devices, with the South Korean original equipment manufacturer currently planning to debut the service outside of its hardware ecosystem as early as next year, people familiar with the effort said on Thursday… The first non-Samsung device with support for Samsung Pay is set to be released around mid-2018, sources close to the company said.”
TSB to roll out iris scanning tech — BBC News — “Imagine logging onto your bank account just by glancing at your phone. That’s what some TSB customers will be able to do from September when the bank introduces iris recognition to its mobile banking app… Customers will need the latest Samsung Galaxy S8 to use the new way of accessing their TSB accounts.”
Samsung Pay announces partnership to allow users to pay via PayPal — Samsung — “Access to PayPal will be available for all Samsung Pay users in the United States and will expand to other countries soon. Additionally, through Braintree, a PayPal service, merchants will be able to accept Samsung Pay as a method of payment in-app and online.”
Santander pays 5% cashback when you pay by mobile phone — Which? — “Santander 123 Lite Current account customers can earn 5% cashback on all purchases using their debit cards via Apple Pay, Android Pay and Samsung Pay. The two-and-a-half month deal runs from 17 July to 30 September, with the bonus paid out by the end of November.”
MobiKwik integrated with Samsung Pay Mini — The Hindu — “The tie-up will enable one-tap payments at more than 1.4m MobiKwik-powered merchants pan-India. Alternatively, users just need to do one swipe and a click to scan and pay immediately at these merchants, improving convenience for them. MobiKwik will also be available soon on Samsung Pay,”
Samsung Pay now supports Discover cards — The Verge — “A customer service representative for Discover confirmed that customers can now add their cards to Samsung Pay. Samsung unveiled its mobile payment system in 2015, and Discover announced at the time that support for the card would come in early 2016. However, that functionality was delayed until now, prompting some complaints from users.”
Rakbank is the first bank in the Middle East to introduce Samsung Pay solutions for its ATMs — Rakbank — “This innovative digital solution enables the bank’s customers to make cardless cash withdrawals from Rakbank ATMs using their Samsung smartphones without the need for a physical debit or credit card. The Samsung Pay solution for ATMs is an end-to-end contactless process.”
Cuscal partners with Samsung Pay — Cuscal — “Samsung Electronics Australia today announced a partnership with Cuscal, Australia’s leading independent provider of payment solutions that will enable 38 financial institutions to offer Samsung Pay… Cuscal joins Westpac, Citibank and American Express as Samsung Pay partners.”
Samsung Pay users across South Korea can now use the Bixby artificial intelligence feature in Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus handsets to conduct transactions with their voice, including completing peer-to-peer (P2P) transfers and finding out their account balance... More
Samsung has responded to the group of hackers from the Chaos Computer Club (CCC) who managed to defeat the iris recognition system on the Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+ smartphones, saying that the hackers’ claims could “only have been made under a rare combination of circumstances”. More
Samsung Pay has gone live in Hong Kong with support from Mastercard, Visa and American Express and banks including Bank of China (Hong Kong), Citibank, DahSing Bank, DBS and Standard Chartered. The launch takes the mobile payment service to a total of 17 markets globally and follows its debut in Taiwan earlier this month. More
Hackers defeat Samsung Galaxy S8 iris scanner — Security Week — “Hackers of the Chaos Computer Club (CCC) in Germany have managed to defeat the iris recognition system on Samsung’s flagship Galaxy S8 smartphones… While an individual’s iris is unique, researchers from CCC showed that Samsung’s iris scanner can be defeated by showing it a picture of the victim’s eye.”
Samsung Pay has been launched across Taiwan with support from Visa and Mastercard along with seven major banks including Citibank, Cathay United Bank, E.Sun Commercial Bank, Taishin International Bank, Fubon Bank, Union Bank of Taiwan and Standard Chartered. The service supports iris scan authentication for those with Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+ devices. More
Samsung Pay is now available in the UK for customers of three financial institutions — MBNA, Nationwide and Santander — with “more on the way”. The service supports iris scan authentication as well as PIN and fingerprint authentication for Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+ owners and offers a ‘transport card’ option designed to speed up transactions on busy Transport for London (TfL) services. More
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