Apple Pay goes live for CBA
Commonwealth Bank customers can now use their iPhones for tap-and-go payments, in a change that may up the pressure on the remaining big banks to follow suit and cave in to the tech giant. The country’s biggest bank on Wednesday started providing Apple Pay, a service that allows customers to make contactless payments with their phones, as well as streamlined purchases in apps and on the web. Until CBA announced its deal with Apple last month, ANZ Bank had been the only big four bank to provide the service in Australia, after CBA, Westpac and National Australia Bank reached a stalemate in talks with Apple in 2016 over access to […]
Australia prepares payments for digital age
The Australian Payments Council (APC) is inviting businesses, NGOs, government and consumers to comment on what’s needed to support payments in the digital economy of the future. Chairman of the APC Robert Milliner says: “We are renewing our strategic vision for the payments system and are looking for views on how we can collaborate to navigate the rapidly changing landscape.” With this mind it has today (22 January) launched a consultation paper – “2019 Consultation – Payments in a Global, Digital World” – as it seeks to make this a reality Down Under. To give you some background, in 2015, the APC consulted across the country to develop the Australian […]
Aussie fintech brings leading Chinese mobile payment platform to local shores
AirPay Financial Technologies has teamed up with major Chinese company SwiftPass to give Australian retailers, e-commerce sites and mobile apps better access to a booming consumer market through mobile payments. The two groups have formed the new lifestyle brand ‘AirPass’, allowing local Australian businesses to accept WeChat Pay and Alipay both online and offline, as well as reaching overseas markets to capitalise on the global Chinese spending boom. AirPass will also help Australian retailers and brands set up their own WeChat eStores to tap into Chinese social marketing channels, reaching new customers in China along with Chinese communities around the globe. The Australian company has offices in Melbourne, Sydney and […]
Australia Post pilots Sniip bill-paying app to save customers time
Australia Post is pleased to be offering its customers a new choice for paying bills by piloting state-of-the-art mobile payments app, Sniip. General Manager Payments and Financial Services at Australia Post, Deanne Keetelaar, said Sniip’s mobile payment technology means customers can pay their bills from their smartphones within seconds. “Australia Post is very excited to be working with Sniip on this pilot project, which supports our commitment to continually improving the bill payment experience for customers,’’ Ms Keetelaar said. “We will initially be offering our customers the ability to pay bills from selected billers using Sniip and seeing how they respond. Sniip has proven through its current billing partners that […]
72% of Aussies now using digital payments
Latest numbers from Roy Morgan reveal 72.4% of Aussies are using at least one form of digital payment, with adoption tipped to rise as society edges towards a cash and cardless environment. Results stem from Roy Morgan’s Digital Payment Solutions Currency Report, citing face-to-face interviews with 50,000 consumers in the twelve months to November 2018. Norman Morris, Roy Morgan Industry Communications Director, asserts the change poses a threat to traditional payment methods – e.g. cash and credit cards – exacerbated by the growth of wearable technology such as smartwatches. “The increasing use of new payment technologies is being aided by the growing proliferation and development of smart phones and wearables […]
You want cash with that? ANZ plugs Apple Pay into eftpos
Millions of ANZ debit card holders will now be able to get cash out with over the counter Apple Pay transactions, after eftpos scored a massive win over the dominance of US credit card companies in smartphone payments. From today ANZ customers will get a new choice of picking cheque or savings for purchases made via debit cards linked to Apple Pay, specifically the Access Advantage Visa debit card which ANZ customer engagement lead Kath Bray said amounted to three million cardholders. ANZ is by far the most dominant Australian bank in the Apple Pay space after it broke away from rivals boycotting Cupertino because of the size of the […]
The 5 trends shaping global payments in 2019
The financial landscape in Australia changed significantly in 2018. Last year, the government announced the first stage of open banking would be implemented in July 2019. Also announced last year by the Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority (APRA) was a change that opened Australia’s shores to a new generation of banks – neobanks – to compete with the Big Four. As we enter 2019, we’ll see the payments industry continue to evolve faster than ever to meet global demands for payment solutions that are quick, efficient and transparent. The year ahead will be a defining one for the payments landscape, with five key trends driving further change globally, including: real-time payments […]
HSBC used blockchain to settle $250B worth of trades
HSBC has settled $250 billion worth of forex trades using blockchain in the last year, it said on Monday, suggesting the heavily hyped technology is gaining traction in a sector until now hesitant to embrace it. The bank has settled over three million forex trades and made over 150,000 payments since February using blockchain, it said in a statement. HSBC would not give data on forex trades settled by traditional processes, saying only that those settled by blockchain represented a “small” proportion. Still, the data marks a significant milestone in the use of blockchain by mainstream finance, which has until now been reluctant to start using the technology at any […]
