Samsung has expanded the card compatibility for Samsung Pay in the UK with three new types of banks. In a press release earlier this afternoon Samsung announced that customers with HSBC, First Direct, and M&S bank cards will now be able to link those cards up with Samsung’s mobile payment solution, though notably absent is any indication of which cards from each bank are accepted and will work when trying to add them into the application. That said, customers will want to check with any of the three banks if they have a card from one of them to make sure that their card is supported.
Samsung also notes that customers with cards from any of the three banks listed above (as well as any of the banks that are already supported in the UK and elsewhere) can receive extra benefits by using Samsung Pay on a Galaxy S8 or Galaxy S8 Plus, as they can use the fingerprint sensor or the iris scanner for authorizing mobile payments at accepted locations and retailers.
Though Samsung Pay is just one of the solutions on Android for making mobile payments, Android Pay will likely work in less locations thanks to the technology that Samsung Pay is based on as it can work essentially anywhere you can swipe a credit card or debit card. While only three new banking partners have been added with this new expansion, Samsung will continue to add more banks to the support list as time goes on, though it doesn’t mention any details about which banks it may be working with to get support up and running, so anyone who doesn’t already have support for Samsung Pay will simply have to continue waiting until Samsung makes the information public. HSBC, First Direct, and M&S bank cardholders join Visa, MasterCard, MBNA, and Nationwide and Santander customers who already have access to Samsung Pay and the simplified method of payment that it offers while shopping both in stores and online. Samsung also notes that support for American Express cards will be added soon, albeit without any mention of an exact time frame.
