No cash, no cards: Woori, Samsung take mobile payments to China, beyond

Woori Bank and Samsung Electronics have removed another layer from mobile payments: travelers no longer need cash, a card or even a separately issued mobile card.

"No card, no cash, no (additional) app," Woori Bank CEO Jung Jin-wan said Wednesday at a press briefing on the overseas expansion of Samsung Wallet Money. By "no app," Jung meant users do not need a separate banking or payment app beyond Samsung Wallet.

Samsung Wallet Money, a prepaid payment service launched by Woori and Samsung Electronics a year ago, now has 3 million users in South Korea. Samsung provides the devices, wallet platform and hardware security, while Woori handles prepaid funds, payments and settlement.

Jung tested the cardless claim on a recent trip. In Hong Kong, a tap-to-pay option connected to Mastercard's network appeared in Samsung Wallet. After he crossed into Shenzhen, the screen switched to QR payment functions linked to WeChat Pay. When he returned to Hong Kong, tap-to-pay reappeared.

The location-based switch captures the service's core, enabling WeChat Pay QR transactions in China and Mastercard contactless payments elsewhere, all within the same wallet.

The China rollout follows a three-way agreement signed Monday by Woori, Samsung Electronics and Tencent at the Chinese technology company's Shenzhen headquarters. It allows South Korean users to pay at WeChat Pay merchants without registering for a separate Chinese payment service.

For other markets, Woori and Samsung have linked Samsung Wallet Money to Mastercard's contactless network, covering more than 150 million merchants in about 210 countries.

"Our focus was to make sure users would not have to install WeChat Pay or Alipay while in China," a Woori official said.

The two apps are central to everyday payments in China, where QR codes dominate and foreign visitors often have to register with a local platform. The Tencent partnership gives Samsung Wallet Money users access to WeChat Pay's network without signing up separately.

To use the service, users must activate overseas payments and link a domestic bank account before leaving Korea. Purchases are deducted from their prepaid balance, which is automatically topped up from the linked account when needed.

The latest expansion, however, links the service to more external networks amid heightened cybersecurity concerns in the financial sector.

"No information classified as customer data is sent at all," a Woori official said, adding that overseas partners receive only encrypted identifiers, not names, resident registration numbers or connecting information known as CI.

Sensitive information is masked, each payment uses a one-time token and security keys are stored separately, according to Woori.

"All payment data is encrypted in transit," Jung Ui-chul, Woori's executive vice president and head of its digital banking business group, reassured. "Samsung's hardware-based security is combined with Woori's fraud detection system and a separate control system developed for Samsung Wallet Money, creating two layers of protection."

The partners plan to add credit cards to China's QR payment service in the first quarter of 2027. Woori is also considering links to Chinese ride-hailing and public transportation services, while Woori and Samsung plan to expand to more countries and local payment partners starting next year.