Another day, another nail in the coffin for the on-going battle between Australia’s big banks and tech giant Apple over Apple Pay.As of today, Bank Australia has joined ranks with the 32 other banks who offer Apple Pay.
Australia’s first customer owned bank, Bank Australia
has nearly 130,000 customers around the country and says that 60% of
them use Apple devices when accessing their digital banking services via
mobile.
“Bank Australia is proud to be among the early financial
institutions in Australia to offer its customers Apple Pay,” said Bank
Australia Managing Director Damien Walsh.
“Our customers have been asking us for Apple Pay, and we’re excited to respond,” said Walsh.
Bank Australia also offers Android Pay, and told ChannelNews they are “keeping an eye on Samsung Pay developments.”
Apple recently doubled down on its decision to restrict use of the
NFC chip in their iPhone handset, telling the Australian Competition and
Consumer Commission that the Commonwealth Bank, National Australia
Bank, Westpac and Bendigo and Adelaide Bank are acting like a “hardcore
cartel” seeking to delay the full arrival of the Apple Pay mobile
payments system in the Australian market.
Expect the matter to develop later in the month when the ACCC decides
whether to empower the CBA, NAB, Westpac and Bendigo to collectively
negotiate with Apple.
