By Kim Jae-won
Shares of companies providing transaction and security services for Samsung Pay are rising fast because of the popularity of its mobile payment system, data showed Sunday.
The mobile payment platform run by Samsung Electronics is gaining popularity, attracting more than 600,000 customers with accumulated payments worth 35 billion won since it was launched on Aug. 20, according to market research.
Shares in the Korea Information Certificate Authority (KICA) have gained 35.1 percent to 19,250 won on from a month ago.
The company, listed on the minor KOSDAQ bourse, offers identification certification services for credit card firms in association with Samsung Pay.
Shares of Raon Secure rose 27.1 percent to 5,860 won during the same period. Raon runs a mobile security platform for Samsung Pay. Raon shares have risen more than five times since January when they were traded around 1,100 won.
Shares of Korea Electronic Certification Authority (KECA) closed at 10,450 won on Friday, up from 6,070 won a month ago.
Analysts said KECA stimulated investors’ sentiment by signing with a bio company to develop electronic certification technology that identifies customers with their bio information.
However, market watchers said it was too early to forecast the prospects for the mobile payment business. They said investors needed to watch movements of the service.
Market watchers said Samsung Electronics, which operates Samsung Pay, was pleased with a successful launch of its mobile payment system and that the IT giant would continue to upgrade its service to maintain and draw more users.
NHN and Kakao also offer similar services named Naver Pay and Kakao Pay, using their Web and mobile platforms. Naver is the nation’s largest portal site while Kakao offers a vernacular chatting app, Kakao Talk.
Retail giants Shinsegae and Lotte also plan to launch such services which can be widely used at their department stores and discount chains. Shinsegae runs the nation’s largest discount chain E-mart while Lotte has strong retail channels from convenience stores and discount chains to department stores.
And mobile payment services from Apple and Google are soon expected to debut on the local market. Apple Pay has been popular in the U.S. and other countries thanks to its popular iPhones.
Google’s Android Pay is gearing up to expand its business using its broad mobile platform.