“No card, currency exchange or app needed”: Woori Bank takes on the overseas payments market with Samsung Wallet Money

[Financial News] Woori Bank is joining forces with Samsung Electronics to target the overseas payments market with Samsung Wallet Money. The service secured 3 million users within a year of its launch and has since expanded its reach worldwide by connecting to China’s WeChat Pay and the global Mastercard payment network. The plan is to improve the convenience of overseas payments and attract travelers by promoting its “Triple-Zero” offering, which requires no physical card, advance currency exchange or local app installation.
On the 28th, Woori Bank held a Samsung Wallet Money press conference at its headquarters in Jung-gu, Seoul, and announced the launch of its overseas payment service and plans for future expansion. Launched last October, Samsung Wallet Money is a top-up-based payment service that combines Woori Bank’s prepaid electronic payment instrument with Samsung Wallet, Samsung Electronics’ mobile wallet.
That day, Woori Bank CEO Jin-owan Jung shared his experience using Samsung Wallet Money in Shenzhen, China, and Hong Kong. On the 26th, Jung traveled to Shenzhen to sign a memorandum of understanding with Samsung Electronics and Tencent Holdings Limited on cooperation in overseas payment services. 
Jung bought a coffee cup set at a store in Shenzhen and also paid with Samsung Wallet Money at a local café. “Without exchanging currency in advance or installing an app, the service automatically topped up from the linked won-denominated account, and the payment was made in yuan,” he said. “When I moved on to Hong Kong, the payment screen switched from a WeChat Pay QR code to a Mastercard-based payment screen,” he said, highlighting the service’s convenience. 
Since the 26th, Samsung Wallet Money has supported QR-code payments at WeChat Pay merchants throughout China. Outside China, users can pay via near-field communication (NFC) at more than 150 million merchants across 210 countries where the Mastercard payment network is available, including in North America, Europe and Japan. A key feature is that the service supports both QR-code and NFC payments to suit payment environments in different countries. 
Asked how the service differs from existing digital payment providers, Jo Bu-hyeon, a department head in Woori Bank’s Platform Business Division, explained, “What sets Samsung Wallet Money apart is that its partnership with WeChat Pay has enabled it to include a table-ordering feature.” He added, “We plan to expand our partnerships to include other services in China and transit cards for the subway.” 
With a series of recent hacking incidents in the financial sector underscoring the importance of security, security measures were also strengthened as the overseas payment network expanded. Customers’ personal and payment information is encrypted during transmission, and one-time authentication information is used for each payment. A dual-monitoring system has also been established by combining Woori Bank’s existing fraud detection system (FDS) with a detection system dedicated to Samsung Wallet Money.
At the press conference, Jung said, “I feel great pride that Woori Bank, together with Samsung Electronics, has created a new overseas payment experience in South Korea, a country with competitive smartphone manufacturing and digital finance capabilities.” He added, “We will continue to enhance the convenience, benefits and security of Samsung Wallet Money and change the landscape of the overseas payments market.”
[email protected] Lee Hyun-jung Reporter