NAB, CBA and Westpac continue to stall on Apple Pay deal
At least a quarter of Australian consumers are being prevented from making mobile payments on their smartphones thanks to little more than the self-serving stubbornness of Australia’s three biggest banks.
If you’re an iPhone user who banks with the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Westpac or NAB, then there’s no way around it: your so-called ‘digital wallet’ is completely useless.
Given 45 per cent of us use iPhones, and 60 per cent of us bank with one of those three institutions, that means at least 27 per cent of us are shut out from using this cutting edge technology entirely.
But if you’re not one of these 27 per cent of Aussies – if you use Android or bank with ANZ or Bendigo – then congratulations are in order: if you haven’t already, the chances are you can activate your digital wallet right now, and start paying for things with your phone while your iPhone-using, CBA-banking friends look on in despair.
The reason for this shut out is a squabble between Apple and Australia’s three biggest banks that has been going on for several years. And the fact is, if CBA, NAB or Westpac wanted to rectify the situation, they could do so pretty much immediately.
Apple is not blameless in all this either. But the fact is the Silicon Valley behemoth is holding all the cards, and the big three banks’ stubbornness (credit to ANZ for not joining in on this) is almost certainly futile, and only harming their customers.
Hang on – what’s a digital wallet?
A digital wallet is a function that allows you to use your smartphone the same way you use your debit or credit card to make contactless payments.
Say you have a Samsung Galaxy phone and bank with ANZ. The first step is to download the ‘Samsung Pay’ app, and then load your ANZ debit card details into it.
Then, the next time you are doing your grocery shopping, when it comes time to pay, you open the app, authenticate with your fingerprint or code, and tap your phone the way you would normally tap your card.
To read more about Apple Pay, please click on the link below…
Source: NAB, CBA and Westpac continue to stall on Apple Pay deal – The New Daily
