The Migros Cumulus Mastercard issued by Cembra Money Bank is the most widely used credit card in Switzerland. Up until now, the card has not been compatible with Samsung Pay. Other credit cards from Cembra Money Bank have been compatible since February 2018.
Now, Migros has given Cembra Money Bank the green light to add Samsung Pay compatibility to its card. The recent introduction of a competing no-annual-fee credit card in the form of the Swisscard Cashback credit card which is compatible with both Samsung Pay and Apple Pay may be a possible reason for this change of heart.
No Apple Pay compatibility as of yet
The Migros Cumulus Mastercard is, as of yet, not compatible with Apple Pay. Unlike Samsung, Apple charges card issuers transactions fees when cardholders charge purchases to their cards using Apple Pay. Because Apple Pay adds an extra cost to transactions, Swiss card issuers will only hop onto the Apple Pay bandwagon when they believe doing so offers a marketing advantage or in the event that Apple Pay becomes important to their customer base.
“Currently, neither Apple Pay nor Samsung Pay play a significant role in the Swiss payment system,” according to moneyland.ch CEO Benjamin Manz. However, it is likely that mobile payments will become more significant in the future.
Credits card which can be used with Samsung Pay
These issuers offer Samsung Pay compatibility on some or all of their credit cards and prepaid cards: Cornèrcard, Bonuscard, Cembra Money Bank, Swisscard and Swiss Bankers.
However, many popular Swiss credit cards and prepaid cards cannot currently be used to spend with Samsung Pay. These include credit cards from PostFinance, UBS, Credit Suisse and Viseca.
You can easily find out whether payment cards are compatible with Samsung Pay, Apple Pay, Fitbit Pay or Garmin Pay using the filters included in the interactive credit card comparison on moneyland.ch.
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Unbiased credit card comparison
