Samsung Pay to Launch in Brazil Ahead of Olympics

Even though Olympics sponsor Visa may have the biggest mobile payments presence at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games in Brazil in two weeks, Samsung Electronics plans to attend the games as well by launching its mobile wallet in the country at a time when hundreds of thousands of visitors are expected.

Samsung Pay makes its debut in Brazil, its first South American market, on July 19 with the support of some of the country's largest card issuing banks.

Those using the mobile wallet on compatible Samsung smartphones will be able to make contactless payments with their linked MasterCard or Visa accounts through Magnetic Secure Transmission, which sends a signal to the point of sale terminal to emulate the mag-stripe swipe. It also supports the same Near Field Communication technology that Apple Pay and Android Pay use.

Brazil joins South Korea, the United States, China, Spain, Singapore,Puerto Rico and, most recently, Australia as markets that Samsung Pay supports.

“Samsung Pay reinforces the company’s focus to bring value to both consumers and partners by bringing innovative services to your smartphones,” Thomas Ko, vice president and global co-general manager of Samsung Pay, said in a July 18 press release. “We are always exploring creative technologies and use cases to provide consumers with an immersive and holistic mobile wallet experience.”

Issuers supporting the Brazil launch include Caixa, Banco de Brasil, Brasil Pre-Pagos, Porto Seguro and Santander. Other bank partners include Banrisul, Bradesco, Nubank and Itau-Unibanco.

Samsung Pay is available on the newer Galaxy S7 handsets and some S6 models.