Samsung Electronics has begun offering digital certificates via its biometric authentication program Samsung Pass, heating up the local market for online ID certification.

The service, launched by Samsung Pass on Dec. 30, enables users of Samsung Galaxy models to obtain certificates on their mobile devices after updating the application. Samsung Pass users can use the digital certificates for the annual tax return process, which starts in January.

Samsung Electronics is one of the five private firms that will provide digital certificate solutions for the tax returns that were selected by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety last month.

Other companies providing solutions for the public tax service include Kakao, NHN Payco, KB Kookmin Bank, and Korea‘s three major mobile carriers, which are collaborating on a service.

SK Telecom, KT and LG Uplus jointly launched digital certificate system Pass in 2018 and hold the largest share of the market. As of the end of November, the number of certificates issued via Pass reached 20 million.

Kakao Pay is also a strong competitor in the market. The company has issued more than 1.5 million digital certifications since its launch in 2017.

The number of Kakao’s digital certification users is expected to rapidly increase down the road as the company plans to introduce a digital wallet feature via chat platform KakaoTalk, the nation’s dominant messaging app.

Naver, a latecomer in the digital certificate market, is also expected to witness rapid growth of its digital certificate solution, backed by the large number of users of the company‘s payment solution Naver Pay.

Naver in March allowed Naver Pay users to issue digital certificates and browse their bills on the platform. The number of certificates issued on Naver Pay currently totals 2 million.

KB Kookmin Bank, the nation‘s second-largest bank, has been also operating its own mobile authentication service since July 2019. The number of its subscribers has since surpassed 5 million.

South Korea‘s leading fintech startup Viva Republica’s Toss is another competitor in the market, with a cumulative 17 million certificates issued through the platform.

By Shim Woo-hyun (ws@heraldcorp.com)