Singapore MasterCard cardholders will soon be able to use Samsung Pay to make quick and secure payments – the first market in Southeast Asia to cater for the smartphone app.

MasterCard is working with such banks as Citibank, DBS/POSB, OCBC Bank and Standard Chartered to enable customers to use their MasterCard credit or debit cards with Samsung Pay.

From June 16, consumers simply swipe up on their compatible Samsung smartphone to bring up the their MasterCard credit or debit card, then scan their fingerprint to make payment.

For both consumers and retailers, Samsung Pay purchases have all the benefits and guarantees of a transaction with the physical MasterCard card.

“According to the MasterCard Mobile Shopping Survey 2016, digital wallets have seen the fastest uptake among consumers in Singapore, with a four-fold increase compared to a year ago,” says MasterCard Singapore group head and GM Deborah Heng.

“Samsung Pay is gaining quick traction and we are very excited to introduce the only mobile wallet that supports both contactless and non-contactless payment in Singapore,” says Samsung Pay global co-GM Thomas Ko.

Samsung Pay transaction use three levels of security for payments. Each transaction uses an encrypted digital token to replace user’s personal payment information, and payments can be authorised only with an approved fingerprint or PIN. For further protection, user’s devices are monitored for malicious software and activities.

MasterCard contactless payments are accepted in 77 countries and more than 5 million merchant locations.