Samsung launched the Samsung Pay payment service in 2015, after nearly 8 years of development, Samsung has cooperated with dozens of banks and card providers around the world to bring consumers convenient mobile payment.
The arrival of Apple Pay in Korea has forced Samsung to change its development strategy. Samsung has never charged banks and card issuers for the past eight years of Samsung Pay service, but it will follow Apple Pay’s lead and start charging banks.
According to Korean media Pulse News, Samsung is working on a new marketing strategy that will charge different banks for different cards, but will be able to rebate the banks for certain activities.
This marketing strategy is similar to how global payment processing companies such as MasterCard and Visa market their products.
Samsung has not yet confirmed the fee structure and may take a variable pricing approach that takes into account factors such as the issuer’s market share and payment volume.
Reports say Samsung has sent notices to 10 credit card companies that it will not renew their contracts. If it charges 0.15 percent, as Apple does, credit card companies could pay 70 billion won per year.
