South Korea plans to introduce credit card based authentication system for mobile payments

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South Korea plans to launch credit card personal authentication system based on NFC technology for online and mobile payments by end of 2016. Currently consumers have to provide sensitive personal information for the authentication for mobile transactions and purchases. This becomes problematic especially for foreigners or students who reside in South Korea as they do not have government issued resident registration numbers. With this approach, consumer convenience will be prioritized which is expected to benefit the mobile payment industry players towards gaining fresh customers.

South Korea’s card and payment industry is considered most competitive in Asia Pacific region. In recent years this industry has been slowly integrating mobile based payments. Kookmin Bank launched mobile payment service at retail locations through UbPay app in 2012. Samsung Pay which was launched last year gained a 2.6 million user base by May 2016 which represents 5% of the total population. Second and third positions have been secured by Shinhan and Hyundai Card with 1.5 million and 1.2 million consumers, respectively. Mobile payments accounted for 32.2% of online purchases as of October 2015. Amidst these developments, introduction of a convenient yet secure authentication technology is expected to increase the adoption of mobile payments among consumers.

To know more and gain deeper understanding of mobile payment industry in South Korea, click here.