Mastercard unveils first co-branded Samsung Pay card in South Korea

Mastercard is partnering with Samsung Electronics and Samsung Card for the launch of the Samsung Pay Card in South Korea, a co-branded digital and physical credit card available through Samsung Pay that exclusively gives users of the app a range of discounts and enhanced functions.

Launched on August 31, the Samsung Pay Card is the first co-branded card in Korea for the popular Samsung Pay app owned by Samsung Electronics. Samsung Pay – the leading mobile wallet in Korea – had about 19 million users as of August, with accumulated payments of 80 trillion won (US$67.5 billion) since the service started in August 2015.

In cooperation with Mastercard, the Samsung Pay Card is also bringing more flexibility and choice to cross-border payments with a new service that allows foreign merchants to accept cards registered for overseas payments on the Samsung Pay app. The Samsung Pay Card can be used at Mastercard merchants equipped with NFC readers worldwide and offers a 5% discount on payments made via the Samsung Pay app.

„Applying for the Samsung Pay Card is quick and easy on Samsung Pay. Once approved, the digital card is available immediately on the app and the physical card is delivered later,” Mastercard said.

Samsung Pay users also get access to features previously available only on the Samsung Card app, including discount details, spending levels linked to benefits, repayments due and overseas payment blocking.

When used via Samsung Pay in Korea, the Samsung Pay Card offers these benefits: a 1% discount on offline payments, a 0.5% additional discount on online payments, a 3% discount on Samsung Pay Coupon Shop payments and a 2% discount on Cashbee transit top-up by the end of December.