The South Korea Herald reports that after years of discussions with local authorities, Apple Pay in South Korea has been approved by financial regulators, paving the way for the mobile payment system to launch in the first half of this year.
The South Korea Financial Services Commission (FSC) said in a press release, “Considering the relevant rules and regulations and their interpretation, we confirm that credit card companies can push for the introduction of the Apple Pay service because they have followed the necessary procedures.”
The FSC emphasized that credit card companies should not pass on fees incurred by using Apple Pay to customers or stores while calling for measures to ensure that customers are protected from risks such as theft of personal information.
The service was initially expected to launch at the end of last year. But experts now say Apple Apple Pay could launch in the middle of the first half of this year, according to the report.
Initial discussions about bringing the Apple Pay digital payment system to South Korea began back in 2017, but Apple has had trouble securing registration as an e-finance business operator, and regulators are investigating whether Apple Pay violates local regulations and laws.
Negotiations around a possible launch also ran into technical hurdles, as NFC terminals were not widely adopted in South Korean retail stores at the time.
NFC terminal adoption has since increased, but Samsung smartphones have made Samsung Pay the dominant payment method thanks to its local presence in South Korea, so the launch of Apple Pay is expected to strengthen competition in the local mobile payments market.
Since its launch in the United States in 2014, Apple Pay has slowly expanded to more countries/regions around the world, as well as expanding the list of financial institutions that support the feature. Apple Pay is also available on the Mac for Web purchases.
