Samsung Pay Now Takes Money Transfer In Some Places

Samsung Pay is easily one of the biggest competitors in the worldwide mobile payments market. It’s been regularly delivering in terms of quality, ease of use, and overall places that accept it like payment. When Hannibal Buress is displaying how easily Samsung Pay can cover deli sandwiches, it’s easy to see why Samsung Pay’s doing so well. For some Korean banks, meanwhile, the app just got a little better as it now offers money transfer services.

Starting December 14, reports note, Samsung Pay users with Shinhan and Woori banks will be able to withdraw funds or transfer them from one account to another. That may not sound so useful, but it joins the ability to run ATM deposits and withdrawals from 10 different banks by using biometrics as a clearance vector. That steps things up a bit by allowing fuller service instead of just ATM service.

What’s more, five different banks are planning to add ATM service as well through the Samsung Pay Mini app, which should open up the prospect to more users still. Samsung Pay is currently the leader of South Korean mobile payments systems, pulling in a combined annual total around eight trillion won—about $7.36 billion as of this writing—in cumulative payments.

It’s going to need to continue adding features, though, in order to maintain its status as a leader even in South Korea. With Android Pay and Apple Pay looking very seriously at the South Korean market, Samsung Pay will need to expand even in its hometown market. Mobile banking features certainly aren’t a bad move, but it’s likely going to take more than that to keep Samsung Pay dominant. It really can’t branch out into more places; it’s already accepted just about anywhere a credit card is as Buress demonstrated not so long ago. Perhaps the only thing left is direct corporate sponsorship, or discounts where you pay by Samsung Pay. Either that or bring out some kind of as-yet-unseen innovation that gives users more options.

This is a good position for Samsung to be in, but it’s going to have to work hard to maintain that top rank for any length of time.