Apple Pay gains over 30 more card issuers in US, China & Australia, re-adds Santander

AppleInsider

Apple this week updated its list of banks and credit unions supporting Apple Pay with over 30 additions across the U.S., China, and Australia, most notably re-adding Santander in the U.S., which was mistakenly put on the list a month ago.

Apple removed Santander almost instantly after listing it in late February. The bank is a major international firm, and was already a key Apple Pay backer in Spain and the U.K.

Australia has gained just one card issuer, Firefighters Mutual Bank, while China has picked up two, the Bank of Ningxia and Tianjin Binhai Rural Commercial Bank.

The full list of U.S. additions includes:

• Bank of Botetourt
• BankNewport
• Barksdale Federal CreditUnion
• Citizens National Bank of Cheboygan
• Cornerstone Financial CreditUnion
• Country Bank
• Fairport Savings Bank
• Fidelity Bank (PA)
• First Central State Bank
• First Community Bank (TX)
• First Community Bank of Beemer
• First Community Credit Union (MO)
• First National Bank of Shiner
• Home Credit US
• Indiana University CreditUnion
• Lyons National Bank
• Members Credit Union
• Metro Credit Union
• MWD Federal Credit Union
• OAS Staff Federal CreditUnion
• Polish National Credit Union
• Rocky Mountain Bank
• Santander Bank
• Seattle Metropolitan CreditUnion
• STAR Financial Bank
• The First National Bank in Trinidad
• Town of Hempstead Employees Federal Credit Union
• Woodforest National Bank

Apple is still engaged in a struggle to expand Apple Pay support in Australia, faced with opposition from four major local banks calling for access to the NFC chips on iPhones. The banks have argued that such access is essential for "meaningful competition" between mobile wallet platforms, since alternatives are often less convenient, and Apple controls a large share of the Australian smartphone market. Apple has countered by claiming opening up to third parties would weaken security.

hentaiboy

And here I was hoping that my (big four) Australian bank had caved in. Guess I'll just have to transfer my life savings to Firefighters Mutual Bank 

fearless

hentaiboy said:

And here I was hoping that my (big four) Australian bank had caved in. Guess I'll just have to transfer my life savings to Firefighters Mutual Bank 

Haha! I'm OK with ANZ and use Apple Pay daily, two or three times, for ristretti from my local. It's the reason I bought the Watch on release - to eke more life from my 5S. But oddly, it's still a bit of a party trick here in Ponsonby, which surprises me. At least I didn't need to pose for a calendar to get it...

_rick_v_

In the US, the issue isn't getting the banks and credit cards on-board, the issue is getting stores to adopt / enable it.

Every credit card I have supports Apple Pay, yet I have virtually no where to use it.  Of course, many stores here are still stuck on using card-swipe, so there may never be hope for us.

lolliver

hentaiboy said:

And here I was hoping that my (big four) Australian bank had caved in. Guess I'll just have to transfer my life savings to Firefighters Mutual Bank 

Or you could move to ANZ if you want to stick with a big bank. I made the switch and even without ApplePay I would still be happy with them. But getting ApplePay was definitely worth the trouble of swapping banks. I wouldn't be holding my breath for any of the other big 4 to get on board soon.

lostkiwi

lolliver said:

hentaiboy said:

And here I was hoping that my (big four) Australian bank had caved in. Guess I'll just have to transfer my life savings to Firefighters Mutual Bank 

Or you could move to ANZ if you want to stick with a big bank. I made the switch and even without ApplePay I would still be happy with them. But getting ApplePay was definitely worth the trouble of swapping banks. I wouldn't be holding my breath for any of the other big 4 to get on board soon.

Yeah it was relatively painless switching from BNZ to ANZ. They handled all the APs and DDs.

BNZ are really hyping their Android Pay functionality. Bye!