Apple Pay Korea terms and conditions filed with regulator

People browse Apple products at an Apple Store in Jamsil, southern Seoul, on Sept. 25. [YONHAP]

Hyundai Card has filed terms and conditions for an Apple Pay service in Korea with the financial regulator.

The Financial Supervisory Service confirmed the submission and said that the document is being reviewed.

A new payment service "requires examination by the FSS before its launch," said Kim Yong-min, a team leader at a FSS department that evaluates loan and deposit products. The FSS is reviewing clauses within the terms of service to determine whether the service "protects customers and follows the law."

Neither Apple Korea nor Hyundai Card would confirm the rollout of an Apple Pay service in Korea.

An Apple Pay in Korea has been mentioned in the local press for years, but the service never materialized.

Expectations grew in October when a Korean iPhone user posted on Naver what appears to be terms and conditions for the use of Apple Pay in Korea. Some iPhone users claimed to have registered their Hyundai Cards with their iPhones earlier in the month.

To make Apple Pay feasible in Korea, devices that support near-field communication (NFC) need to be installed at stores. Apple Pay only works via NFC, a technology that allows for short-distance wireless communication between a terminal and a device.

Apple Pay was the second largest payment service provider globally following Visa in 2021. It was followed by Alipay, Mastercard, Google Pay and Samsung Pay, according to Statista.

Apple opened a store in Myeongdong in central Seoul in April and another in Jamsil in southern Seoul in September.

BY JIN MIN-JI [jin.minji@joongang.co.kr]