Samsung Pay Gets Co-op Bank Support

Samsung Pay is now available to Co-op Bank cardholders, expanding support for the Korean manufacturer’s answer to Apple Pay and Android Pay.

The service went live earlier this year but support was limited to MBNA, Nationwide and Santander card holders. HSBC, M&S Bank and First Direct were added in June, but some of the biggest banks in the country, including NatWest and Barclays are still absent.

Samsung Pay Co-op

Not only that, only MasterCard and Visa cards can be used. Samsung has previously said American express support was on the way, but has yet to materialise.

The digital wallet works in the same way as other mobile payment platforms, with users able to make payments by tapping their phone on any reader that also supports contactless cards.

Unique features include iris scanning to authenticate payments on the Samsung Galaxy S8 and Galaxy Note 8 and the ability to nominate a card as a ‘transport’ card so payments on Transport for London (TfL) services such as the bus or the tube are more rapid.

Other supported devices include the Samsung Galaxy S6, S7, the A3 and A5 2017 devices and the Samsung Gear S3 smartwatch, which must be paired with a smartphone running Android 4.4 Kit Kat or newer.