Samsung keeps up with the card trend

A while after Apple announced its Apple Card, Google its Google Card and Huawei its Huawei Card, Samsung is now coming up with its “Samsung Money by SoFi,” a debit card solution developed jointly with SoFi, a US-based Fintech company, and bearing the MasterCard logo.

“Samsung Money” is presented as a mobile-first cash management solution, accessible through Samsung Pay, and coming with physical and virtual cards, issued by MasterCard. The physical debit card will not display the card number, expiration date, or CVC, that will have to be found in the Samsung Pay app, protected by biometric or PIN authentication. In the US, users of Samsung Pay on Samsung Galaxy devices will have access to the Samsung Money solution later this summer.

The common point between the “Pay” providers, Apple, Samsung, Google, Huawei, … is their goal to expand their position in the ecosystem. They used to be a supplier of mass-produced identical products and are now proposing individually tailored services. Managing personal finances is a business like no other: it requires industrial means to process large numbers of transactions in an automated manner, but, at the same time, demands individual care, so far emblazoned in the personal relationship between the banker and the account holder.

The market of personal finance is driven essentially by confidence. Consumers worldwide keep on trusting financial institutions significantly more than any other entity when it comes to managing their personal finances and data. This is demonstrated by separate studies by nCipher Security in the US and by Galitt in France. Newcomers in the payment ecosystem are struggling to establish their confidence in an environment where most players are centuries old.

However, these companies, which have already obtained to be present in a large chunk of our lives since the expansion of smartphones, are now on their way to obtaining more ecosystem control and becoming a more intrinsic part of our lives. Banks have to remain innovative to combine development with the trust level they already enjoy.