Samsung and global payments platform Finablr announced they have launched an in-app international money transfer service.
Under the arrangement, Samsung Pay users will be able to use the “Money Transfer” feature of the app to make cross-border payments to 47 countries, including India, Mexico, China, and the Philippines, through a variety of payout methods within Samsung’s native mobile wallet.
“Money Transfer is a first step in our vision to evolve Samsung Pay into a platform that makes users’ financial lives more convenient,” Sang Ahn, vice president and division head of content and services at Samsung Electronics America, said in a statement.
The service allows users with eligible pre-registered debit or credit cards in Samsung Pay to send money in most major currencies via Finablr’s global network. It also allows users to see the transfer fee and exchange rate before making a payment.
The money transfer feature in Samsung Pay is available now only in the U.S. but will be expanded to other markets in 2020, the companies said.
A study from the consultancy Bain found more than 80% of consumers in China used mobile payments last year. In the United States, the rate is less than 10%.
Finablr’s group chief executive Promoth Manghat said the Samsung Pay Money Transfer is the only cross-border payment system embedded in the app of a major mobile wallet.
“While certain apps support digital wallet payments, it is a disconnected experience,” Manghat told MarketWatch in an email.
Apple Pay and PayPay also allow users to make cross-border payments.
The World Bank estimated that remittances to low-income and middle-income countries totaled $529 billion in 2018, a record high and an increase of 9.6% from 2017. Total global remittances were $689 billion in 2018, the bank said, up from $633 billion the year before.
Manghat said the global cross-border payments market was $127 trillion.