No card, cash or new app: Woori expands overseas payment through Samsung Wallet Money

Woori Bank has expanded overseas payment services through Samsung Wallet Money, a prepaid digital payment platform, to more than 200 countries as outbound travel from Korea increases.

“No card, no cash and no app,” said Woori Bank CEO Jung Jin-wan of the payment service during a press conference held in central Seoul on Tuesday, adding that Woori and its partners will create a world where “you only need a smartphone and a passport to come home from abroad.”

Launched in October of last year, Samsung Wallet Money allows users to link their bank accounts directly to Samsung Wallet. While the service supports accounts from 20 banks, Woori Bank has emerged as the preferred choice, thanks largely to its generous rewards, accounting for 42 percent of all accounts, the bank said.

It is offering rewards of up to 5.3 percent on overseas purchases through the end of the year. There are also no overseas transaction fees or annual card fees.

Users can make contactless payments via near-field communication (NFC) at more than 150 million merchants across 210 countries and territories covered by Mastercard’s payment network, including North America, Europe and Japan.

To enable payments in China, Woori Bank, Samsung Electronics and Tencent, the operator of WeChat Pay, signed a partnership agreement Monday allowing Korean visitors to pay locally using Samsung Wallet Money via Tencent’s QR code payment network. Users can either present their payment QR code to store clerks or scan a code displayed at the merchant’s premises.

Woori Bank said it is the first in Korea to support all three payment methods: NFC, QR codes and table-order QR payments.

Amid the rising hacking attacks at financial companies in Korea, Woori said it operates a dual-monitoring system that combines its experience running an existing fraud detection system with a dedicated detection system for Samsung Wallet Money to prevent electronic financial fraud.

The bank separately analyzes transaction characteristics and suspicious transaction patterns specific to Samsung Wallet Money to identify potential unauthorized use or suspected telecommunications-related financial fraud before losses occur.

“It is a convenient payment method for customers, and we have built in extensive security measures,” Jung said. “Having paved the way for customers to make payments worldwide with a single Galaxy phone, we will continue to enhance the convenience, benefits and security of Samsung Wallet Money to transform the overseas payments market.”

BY JIN MIN-JI [[email protected]]