EFT Corporation, a leading payment solutions provider operating across African markets, has partnered with Samsung to bring its Scan to Pay QR payment technology into Samsung Wallet, giving Galaxy device users in South Africa a fast, secure way to pay at thousands of merchant locations nationwide.
Galaxy users can now open the Wallet, scan a Scan to Pay QR code at a till, on a bill, at a fuel station, or at online checkout confirm the transaction, and the payment is complete.
Scan to Pay, EFT Corporation’s alternative payment solution, has spent years building acceptance in South Africa. The technology is accepted at thousands of merchant locations across the country and is embedded in over 19 million app inclusions across banking, fintech and financial services apps. The integration with Samsung Wallet gives that acceptance network a natural, trusted point of entry: millions of Galaxy users already carrying a device that can now pay with it directly.
“Scan to Pay has spent years building the acceptance side of QR payments in South Africa, thousands of locations where a QR code is already a valid way to pay. What Samsung brings is the other half of that equation: millions of Galaxy devices already in South Africans’ pockets. Putting Scan to Pay inside Samsung Wallet means those two networks meet, and paying by QR stops being something you have to think about and becomes something you just do,” says Paul Selibas, Managing Director, Scan to Pay
Reducing friction at the point of sale
The partnership addresses a practical, everyday problem: friction at checkout, from finding a card to waiting for a terminal to connect and entering a PIN. Scan to Pay in Samsung Wallet reduces this to three steps: open the Wallet, scan the code, confirm.
The two companies’ offerings are complementary. Scan to Pay brings the merchant acceptance network, spanning grocery retail, fuel, hospitality, e-commerce and bill payments, as well as the QR rails behind a large share of the country’s QR payment volume, including inside major banking apps.
Samsung brings device reach and a security layer: payments made through Samsung Wallet are protected by Samsung Knox, Samsung’s defence-grade mobile security platform, with biometric authentication on every transaction. Neither network needed to be rebuilt, the integration connects two systems that were each already operating at scale.
What it means for merchants and the market
For merchants already accepting Scan to Pay, the feature requires no new hardware, no integration work and no change to existing processes, it simply extends their reach to Galaxy users transacting through Samsung Wallet.
More broadly, the partnership supports the continued shift away from cash and card-first payment behaviour at the point of sale. QR-based payment is well suited to the South African market, given high smartphone penetration, an already broad acceptance footprint, and a lower cost to accept relative to card infrastructure.
“Samsung doesn’t just focus on tech and AI innovation for Galaxy users. One of the core fundamentals within the product design process is having a deep understanding of what our users do with our devices, and importantly how we can make everyday usage more intuitive and easier. Our Wallet encompasses the true sense of what a Digital Wallet should be, we will continue to add practical innovation within our Wallet functionality,” says Zahir Cajee, MX Lead: Product and Commercial, Samsung South Africa.
Scan to Pay is live in Samsung Wallet now, available at participating locations.
