Samsung Pay Makes Its European Debut

Samsung Pay Spain

Samsung Pay has officially launched in Spain, bringing the mobile wallet into its first European country.

Samsung Pay is the first mobile payment service of its kind to be launched in Spain, giving it a head start in the market over Apple Pay and Android Pay.

“Our goal with Samsung Pay is to drive and lead innovation in mobile commerce, giving consumers a safer, smarter and better mobile wallet,” Victor Kim, global director of Samsung Pay, explained in a press release.

“Samsung operates an open model of partnership and collaboration to deliver the best possible customer experience. With Samsung Pay, we’re confident that we’re providing Spanish customers with the mobile payments service that they’re looking for.”

The service is available for cardholders of CaixaBank and imaginBank, allowing customers to download their eligible debit and credit cards on their smartphone to enable mobile payments.

Samsung confirmed that Samsung Pay will soon be available for Abanca and Banco Sabadell customers as well.

“We are proud that Spain is the first European market to introduce Samsung Pay, an innovative new service that we believe will mark a turning point, both in Spaniards’ payments behavior and the evolution of the payments market as a whole,” Celestino García, corporate vice president of Samsung Spain, added.

“The opportunity for Samsung Pay in Spain is significant, due to the high smartphone penetration rate and the digitalization of the banking sector.”

According to recent research commissioned by Samsung, half of respondents in Spain aged between 35 and 65 said they carry more than two debit or credit cards around with them at a time. Therefore, it’s not surprising that nearly six in 10 Spaniards, García noted, are interested in using a payment service such as Samsung Pay.

Nathalie Oestmann, director of Samsung Pay Europe, added:

“The Spanish market’s progressive approach to digital payments makes it a logical launch market for Samsung Pay. We believe that the comprehensive support from telecom service providers; networks and processors; and banks and merchants will help to accelerate mobile payments adoption across Spain.”