NFC Times Exclusive Insight – Three of Singapore’s largest banks will soon launch mobile payments with Apple Pay, Apple disclosed Tuesday, as it launched Apple Pay in its sixth country.
At launch in Singapore, only users with American Express-issued cards will be able to tap their iPhones and Apple Watches to pay. But Apple confirmed that Visa issuers DBS Bank, United Overseas Bank and Standard Chartered bank would soon be making their cards, including credit and debit, available. UPDATE: Samsung, which had already been working on a launch in Singapore of Samsung Pay, followed Apple's Singapore launch announcement, saying on Wednesday it would launch Samsung Pay in Singapore as early as the second quarter with at least three banks, DBS, Standard Chartered and a third major issuer, OCBC Bank, as well as American Express later, and with support from three networks, Visa, MasterCard and American Express.
Samsung's launch dates in Singapore, like Apple's expansion to Visa issuers there, were vague, however. Samsung had also issued a release shortly after Apple had announced plans to move into China last December, making a quick announcement of its own plans to launch in China with Samsung Pay, which it did several weeks behind Apple's payments launch there, in late March. END UPDATE.
