Samsung Pay adds 14 more US banks to boost gift cards

After huge success in its home country of South Korea, Samsung has now fastened its seatbelts to give the service new momentum in the U.S. Samsung has announced it will add 14 new banking partners to support gift cards using Samsung Pay.

The new banks include Chase, PNC Bank, TD Bank, SunTrust, Fifth Third Bank, First Hawaiian, Key Bank, Silicon Valley Bank, Security Service Federal Credit Union, Navy Federal Credit Union, Virginia Credit Union, Associated Bank, Randolph Brooks Federal Credit Union, and People’s United Bank .

Samsung Pay is trying to get the major card networks in South Korea on board with the aim of supporting Discover cards next year, said Samsung.

“We’re thrilled to introduce new partners that will build on our early success, and move us even closer to a world in which your mobile phone is a true mobile wallet,” said Thomas Ko, Vive President and Global Co-general Manager of Samsung Pay, in a press note.

Samsung Pay can be used almost everywhere and customers are “using it repeatedly”, said Samsung. Thus, the company considers Samsung Pay to be the “most accepted mobile payment system.” The huge acceptance is largely because of the fact Samsung Pay works with both contactless near field communication (NFC) as well as magnetic stripe terminals.

Magnetic Secure Transmission (MST) technology is built into Samsung Galaxy S6, Galaxy S6 edge, Galaxy S6 edge+ and Galaxy Note5 that enables users to make payments. Earlier this year, Samsung acquired LoopPay to use their proprietary technology.

A partnership with Blackhawk Network that includes top retailers will allow users to bind gift cards on their phones to make payments. The Blackhawk Network works with gift cards from Amazon, Macy's, the Home Depot and Apple to name the few, as reported by The Verge.

Samsung Pay uses tokenization and fingerprint authentication to provide safe and secure payments in three simple steps. It’s compatible with major payment networks, including American Express, MasterCard and Visa.

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