Barclays adds Apple Pay support 9 months after UK launch

AppleInsider

After months of waiting in the wings, Barclays customers in the UK can now provision bank-issued cards for use with Apple Pay on compatible devices, as the bank finally flipped the switch on Apple's mobile payments service.

Source: MacFormat

A number of iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch owners woke up to discover the Apple Pay addition on Tuesday, with multiple Barclays account holders reporting successful card activations like the example seen above, posted to Twitter by UK magazine MacFormat.

As a major UK bank, Barclays was expected to be among the first card-issuing institutions to offer Apple Pay support, but the firm was notably absent from the launch list Apple announced at WWDC 2015. Barclays received a number of complaints from customers, some of whom threatened to leave the bank over the matter. The firm's CEO of Personal and Corporate Banking division Ashok Vaswani issued a statement one day after Apple's announcement, saying the company was working to add Apple Pay to its existing mobile payments offerings.

Apple's payments service went live in the UK last July with partner companies American Express, First Direct, HSBC, Nationwide, NatWest, Royal Bank of Scotland, Santander and Ulster Bank, while Lloyds Bank, Halifax and Bank of Scotland were added as part of a second rollout in September.

Seemingly late to the game, Vaswani confirmed an application to the Apple Pay program in October, telling customers to expect service activation in early 2016. Most recently, the executive released a statement in January suggesting Apple Pay support would ultimately arrive in March.

Apple first announced its mobile payments solution in 2014, touting the system's easy to use touchless NFC interface and integration with Touch ID. Following a U.S. rollout, Apple Pay availability expanded to the UK last summer before reaching Canada and Australia a few months later. Most recently, Apple Pay reached China in February, with early figures suggesting more than 3 million activations in just two days.

AMcKinlay21

Well better late than never I suppose...

laytech

And still the Australian bank cartel keep it out of Australia. At least American Express offer it, one good reason not to use my bank card. 

I struggle to understand how a country so advanced with chip and pin and NFC payments is so far behind with implementing this technology. Oh wait, of course I do, banks protecting banks, and not giving a monkey's for their customer base. Profits for shareholders.

xbit

At last! I would have swapped away from Barclays ages ago but the cashback deal on my card is unbeatable by anything on the market today. 

cnocbui

laytech said:

And still the Australian bank cartel keep it out of Australia. At least American Express offer it, one good reason not to use my bank card. 

I struggle to understand how a country so advanced with chip and pin and NFC payments is so far behind with implementing this technology. Oh wait, of course I do, banks protecting banks, and not giving a monkey's for their customer base. Profits for shareholders.

As a shareholder, I fully support their position of not paying a freeloader part of the profits generated from the infrastructure I paid for.

teejay2012

cnocbui said:

laytech said:

And still the Australian bank cartel keep it out of Australia. At least American Express offer it, one good reason not to use my bank card. 

I struggle to understand how a country so advanced with chip and pin and NFC payments is so far behind with implementing this technology. Oh wait, of course I do, banks protecting banks, and not giving a monkey's for their customer base. Profits for shareholders.

As a shareholder, I fully support their position of not paying a freeloader part of the profits generated from the infrastructure I paid for.

If I read your post correctly, you feel that Apple is the freeloader? I suppose as 'a shareholder', you have no concerns about security and never had one of your credit cards compromised? In the real world, consumers have and it is not fun to be a victim of identity theft in which your cc played a part. No matter. Consumers will pressure your bank to add Apple pay and the banks will increase their profit by offering merchants and customers better security. Stop being so unnecessarily negative.

saarek

Hell, it's about time!

slimnickyy

@xbit - yea the cash back account is very competitive and love it, but guess what? We have to wait even longer still (http://help.barclaycard.co.uk/brochure/contactless_payments/anyone-applepay - see 2nd bullet point). This bank is starting to p*** me off and honestly there’s many cards that come close and it’s not too hard to switch over. See if the shareholder likes losing another customer (and sadly heavy user) to another bank for being ignorant of what consumers want. 

cnocbui

teejay2012 said:

cnocbui said:

As a shareholder, I fully support their position of not paying a freeloader part of the profits generated from the infrastructure I paid for.

If I read your post correctly, you feel that Apple is the freeloader? I suppose as 'a shareholder', you have no concerns about security and never had one of your credit cards compromised? In the real world, consumers have and it is not fun to be a victim of identity theft in which your cc played a part. No matter. Consumers will pressure your bank to add Apple pay and the banks will increase their profit by offering merchants and customers better security. Stop being so unnecessarily negative.

Of course Apple is attempting to freeload.  They have put up not one cent of the billions Australian banks have invested to have one of the world's most advanced banking infrastructures.

I have absolutely no concerns about card security in Australia.  You must be confusing the place with the US.  Chip and Pin cards are universal in Australia and have been for years.  Likewise, NFC terminals, cards and payments have been in place for years.  Chip and Pin is very secure.  Card fraud in Australia amounts to 0.0536% of the total value of transactions.  With Apple wanting 0.15% of transaction value as a fee, they are a far worse potential profit impediment than fraud, so even if Apple Pay eliminated 100% of fraud, it would still be 3 times more expensive than fraud is.

I think Australian banks should accommodate customers who want to use Apple Pay, by providing it and adding a surcharge equal to whatever amount goes to Apple.  I see no reason whatsoever why any of the banks I have shares in should allow their profits, and my dividends, to suffer so Apple can grow richer on the back of the infrastructure the banks have paid for.

singularity

slimnickyy said:

@xbit - yea the cash back account is very competitive and love it, but guess what? We have to wait even longer still (http://help.barclaycard.co.uk/brochure/contactless_payments/anyone-applepay - see 2nd bullet point). This bank is starting to p*** me off and honestly there’s many cards that come close and it’s not too hard to switch over. See if the shareholder likes losing another customer (and sadly heavy user) to another bank for being ignorant of what consumers want. 

Actually you are in a very small minority. As banks know that most customers may bitch about a service they don't provide but won't actually change who they bank with. If you are one of those that will change then they don't mind as you are probably a customer they don't make that much money from (eg no overdraft, pay off credit cards monthly etc)

patsu

cnocbui said:

teejay2012 said:

If I read your post correctly, you feel that Apple is the freeloader? I suppose as 'a shareholder', you have no concerns about security and never had one of your credit cards compromised? In the real world, consumers have and it is not fun to be a victim of identity theft in which your cc played a part. No matter. Consumers will pressure your bank to add Apple pay and the banks will increase their profit by offering merchants and customers better security. Stop being so unnecessarily negative.

Of course Apple is attempting to freeload.  They have put up not one cent of the billions Australian banks have invested to have one of the world's most advanced banking infrastructures.

I have absolutely no concerns about card security in Australia.  You must be confusing the place with the US.  Chip and Pin cards are universal in Australia and have been for years.  Likewise, NFC terminals, cards and payments have been in place for years.  Chip and Pin is a very secure.  Card fraud in Australia amounts to 0.0536% of the total value of transcations.  With Apple wanting 0.15% of transaction value as a fee, they are a far worse potential profit impediment than fraud, so even if Apple Pay eliminated 100% of fraud, it would still be 3 times more expensive than fraud is.

I think Australian banks should accommodate customers who want to use Apple Pay, by providing it and adding a surcharge equal to whatever amount goes to Apple.  I see no reason whatsoever why any of the banks I have shares in should allow their profits, and my dividends, to suffer so Apple can grow richer on the back of the infrastructure the banks have paid for.

Actually, chip and pin is broken because of recent MITM attacks. The Australian banks are not being truthful when they said they already offered something similar. The new tokenization method is built on top of the existing EMV spec, but it offers extra protection.

slimnickyy

singularity said:

slimnickyy said:

@xbit - yea the cash back account is very competitive and love it, but guess what? We have to wait even longer still (http://help.barclaycard.co.uk/brochure/contactless_payments/anyone-applepay - see 2nd bullet point). This bank is starting to p*** me off and honestly there’s many cards that come close and it’s not too hard to switch over. See if the shareholder likes losing another customer (and sadly heavy user) to another bank for being ignorant of what consumers want. 

Actually you are in a very small minority. As banks know that most customers may bitch about a service they don't provide but won't actually change who they bank with. If you are one of those that will change then they don't mind as you are probably a customer they don't make that much money from (eg no overdraft, pay off credit cards monthly etc)

Perhaps you’re correct or maybe you’re far off in some generalisation made of my finances and or usage. what’s your point? actually who cares. Bottom line the article says Barclays is all up and ready for Apple Pay for its customers. It is, but a caveat not mentioned is (amongst several others including business cards) cash back members, i.e. accounts with both a Visa and AMEX issued (so the minority consumer can spend £ at any merchant, including those not taking AMEX); for those users, it’s still not ready and when it is it’ll only allow use of your Visa. End of moving on.

fallenjt

It supported in US from day 1. Is Barclaycard in US different?

cnocbui

patsu said:

cnocbui said:

Of course Apple is attempting to freeload.  They have put up not one cent of the billions Australian banks have invested to have one of the world's most advanced banking infrastructures.

I have absolutely no concerns about card security in Australia.  You must be confusing the place with the US.  Chip and Pin cards are universal in Australia and have been for years.  Likewise, NFC terminals, cards and payments have been in place for years.  Chip and Pin is a very secure.  Card fraud in Australia amounts to 0.0536% of the total value of transcations.  With Apple wanting 0.15% of transaction value as a fee, they are a far worse potential profit impediment than fraud, so even if Apple Pay eliminated 100% of fraud, it would still be 3 times more expensive than fraud is.

I think Australian banks should accommodate customers who want to use Apple Pay, by providing it and adding a surcharge equal to whatever amount goes to Apple.  I see no reason whatsoever why any of the banks I have shares in should allow their profits, and my dividends, to suffer so Apple can grow richer on the back of the infrastructure the banks have paid for.

Actually, chip and pin is broken because of recent MITM attacks. The Australian banks are not being truthful when they said they already offered something similar. The new tokenization method is built on top of the existing EMV spec, but it offers extra protection.

Chip and Pin is not broken.  There were a couple of very sophisticated attacks here in Europe some years ago, but the vulnerabilities relied on were patched.  If it was broken, the fraud rate would be higher.

teejay2012

cnocbui said:

teejay2012 said:

If I read your post correctly, you feel that Apple is the freeloader? I suppose as 'a shareholder', you have no concerns about security and never had one of your credit cards compromised? In the real world, consumers have and it is not fun to be a victim of identity theft in which your cc played a part. No matter. Consumers will pressure your bank to add Apple pay and the banks will increase their profit by offering merchants and customers better security. Stop being so unnecessarily negative.

Of course Apple is attempting to freeload.  They have put up not one cent of the billions Australian banks have invested to have one of the world's most advanced banking infrastructures.

I have absolutely no concerns about card security in Australia.  You must be confusing the place with the US.  Chip and Pin cards are universal in Australia and have been for years.  Likewise, NFC terminals, cards and payments have been in place for years.  Chip and Pin is very secure.  Card fraud in Australia amounts to 0.0536% of the total value of transactions.  With Apple wanting 0.15% of transaction value as a fee, they are a far worse potential profit impediment than fraud, so even if Apple Pay eliminated 100% of fraud, it would still be 3 times more expensive than fraud is.

I think Australian banks should accommodate customers who want to use Apple Pay, by providing it and adding a surcharge equal to whatever amount goes to Apple.  I see no reason whatsoever why any of the banks I have shares in should allow their profits, and my dividends, to suffer so Apple can grow richer on the back of the infrastructure the banks have paid for.

"Chip and Pin cards are universal in Australia.." Yes these cards are better, but not impregnable and they are less convenient than Apple Pay. I have chip and pin, and it slows transactions down to worsen line ups. Tap to pay is good, but only for low value items like coffee. I am not sure why I need to pay a surcharge to either Apple or to your bank to use something that offers more security and convenience when 'they' are both making money off me. Here's a thought. Have the merchant pay more and pass on the cost to consumers, if they think they can get away with it.

The end is near. Apple Pay is inevitable because most consumers don't give a toss about your banks profits. Deal with it.

argonaut

Finally ....  

Loaded up my Barclaycard Platinum Visa and Barclays Platinum Debit card into Wallet ... Just used it in Marks & Spencer's and Costa Coffee... all worked without a hitch..   

davidlewis54

Barclays have been very selective with the accounts which may use Apple Pay. My Barclaycard Platinum Visa card is fine but my company debit card is not supported and neither is my basic current account debit card, although I had to ring Barclays Bank to find out about the latter.

entropys

I think Australian banks should accommodate customers who want to use Apple Pay, by providing it and adding a surcharge equal to whatever amount goes to Apple.  I see no reason whatsoever why any of the banks I have shares in should allow their profits, and my dividends, to suffer so Apple can grow richer on the back of the infrastructure the banks have paid for.

You should realise that Apple Pay is an additional feature that would enhance the value of the credit card, thus increasing the revenue to the bank of that card? As in increase profit and thus your dividend?
As the creator of the Apple Pay  system and its additional security features, it is entitled to a revenue stream. Form the banks' perspective, all they 'should' need to decide if that cost of 0.15% is more or less than the additional revenue it would attract. Any bank that thought a surcharge was justified would fail as its competitors featured surcharge free Apple Pay. Unless there was illegal collusion of course, which we know mate there isn't eh?

But in Australian banks' case, the problem is there is also the additional sunk costs of their 'now' inferior home baked mobile banking solutions. I believe the Commonwealth Bank in particular is quite vocal about its preference for its solution. Which is crap compared with Apple Pay of course. That investment would have to be written off if the public was able to embrace Apple Pay. Certain execs reputations are also important. Very important. 

Even though i am I am sure there is no illegal collusion by the banks

command_f

slimnickyy said:

@xbit - yea the cash back account is very competitive and love it, but guess what? We have to wait even longer still (http://help.barclaycard.co.uk/brochure/contactless_payments/anyone-applepay - see 2nd bullet point). -Snip-. 

Ah, I was about to say 'just in time' with my 5s replacement SE due next week. One of the features that I actually want is Apple Pay; waited long enough for a 4 inch phone that supports it, guess I'll just have to keep waiting.

xbit

slimnickyy said:

@xbit - yea the cash back account is very competitive and love it, but guess what? We have to wait even longer still (http://help.barclaycard.co.uk/brochure/contactless_payments/anyone-applepay - see 2nd bullet point).

Oh FFS! Thanks for the heads up!

dorkus maximus

I think Australian banks should accommodate customers who want to use Apple Pay, by providing it and adding a surcharge equal to whatever amount goes to Apple.  I see no reason whatsoever why any of the banks I have shares in should allow their profits, and my dividends, to suffer so Apple can grow richer on the back of the infrastructure the banks have paid for.

Right, and banks should charge customers for the convenience of using ATMs despite the fact that it is to the advantage of the bank that ATMs are less expensive and more available than human tellers. Apple Pay is an advantage to banks. They should offer it because it is a convenience for their customers and prospective customers. If bank customers didn't want to use Apple Pay they wouldn't and the bank would pay nothing to Apple. However, if they wanted to use Apple Pay and your bank refused to support it, they may well take their savings and move to a bank that does. What happens to your dividends then?