Samsung lets customers link any bank account to Samsung Pay

Samsung device owners in Germany can now link a personal account at "almost any" German bank to Samsung Pay and then use a virtual Visa debit card to make mobile payments in-store.

"After successful registration for Samsung Pay, the user receives a virtual Visa debit card that can be linked to almost any German bank account," says Solarisbank, the banking-as-aservice platform that worked with Samsung and Visa to roll out the service in Germany.

"This is the first time Visa is enabling this service in Europe," it adds. "To connect Samsung Pay to a personal bank account, Solarisbank uses a novel and convenient KYC [know your customer] process which does not require video identification or [a] branch visit.

"Instead, the user's identity is verified via a micro transaction from their existing bank account. This way, the identification process is not dependent on the availability of a video identification, and can be carried out at any time of day."

Users can choose the 24-month instalment payments option using Solarisbank's Splitpay solution integrated into the Samsung Pay service. The option remains available up to 90 days after a payment has been made.

The partnership with Solarisbank and Visa means that Samsung has not had to negotiate with individual German banks to roll out Samsung Pay in the country. "Instead of entering into numerous partnerships with various banks, we decided to trust in the proven track record and neutrality of Solarisbank," explains Samsung's Man-Young Kim.