Apple Pay adds support for BMO, TD and Scotiabank in Canada

AppleInsiderAppleInsider
Posted:
in iPhone edited May 2016
Canadian Apple Pay users have three more banking options from which to choose, as Apple on Wednesday rolled out support for the country's remaining "Big Five" banks BMO, TD and Scotiabank.




The latest Apple Pay bank additions, reported by The Toronto Star, come less than one month after the payments service integrated with systems from RBC, CIBC and smattering of smaller establishments.

Apple Pay was first introduced to the Canadian market in November, but initial availability was limited to American Express credit cards. Wider support was announced earlier this year following successful negotiations with major banks and Canadian interbank network Interac, the latter of which developed a new token service to process debit card-based Apple Pay transactions.

Today's additions come just one week after Apple Pay gained five major banks in Singapore. As it did in Canada, Apple leveraged its partnership with American Express to offer consumers in Singapore relatively early access to touchless iPhone and Apple Watch payments. After going live in April, the company hammered out deals to bring comprehensive coverage to more than 80 percent of all Visa and MasterCard cards issued in the country.

Looking ahead, Apple Pay chief Jennifer Bailey last week said the company is working to rapidly expand in areas of Asia and Europe. The endgame, Bailey said, is to offer Apple Pay in every major market Apple products are sold.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 16
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member
    Rene Ritchie will be elated.
  • Reply 2 of 16
    viclauyycviclauyyc Posts: 849member
    FINALLY 
  • Reply 3 of 16
    EsquireCatsEsquireCats Posts: 1,268member
    I'm glad that working with Amex has seemingly been a win-win scenario for Apple and Amex. This has effectively forced stagnant banks into moving to the much more secure and private token system. (The bank's only reason not to support Apple Pay was to protect their transaction fees.)

    Every industry seems to fear Apple's involvement, but the net effect for consumers has always been the same: more choice, better security/privacy and better services by leveraging technology. What some of these companies fail to realise is that blocking a new technology doesn't make it go away, it just opens the door to competitors.

    I can say confidently that the fractional loss in transaction fees for supporting Apple Pay and similar services is far smaller than the fees and capital lost by customers who switched to competitors. (I for one switched credit cards to take advantage of the convenience of Apple Pay.)
    colinngslprescottchiaDan Andersenjony0
  • Reply 4 of 16
    gadgetcanadav2gadgetcanadav2 Posts: 694member
    We're finally there!
    Now bring more flyover maps to Canadian cities please.
  • Reply 5 of 16
    misamisa Posts: 827member
    Added my main card to Apple Pay. Now I can finally go outside without any cards *cough*wait-a-sec*

    So just as a warning, as I also jumped on the AMEX Apple Pay originally. The POS systems will sometimes reject and request inserting your card. If you see that, you'll still need your card to complete that transaction. AMEX is seen as a US-issued/US card by default, if you insert the AMEX card it will try to do a chip+sign transaction. So don't be surprised if it does this.

    edited June 2016
  • Reply 6 of 16
    tulkastulkas Posts: 3,757member
    EsquireCats said:
    I'm glad that working with Amex has seemingly been a win-win scenario for Apple and Amex. This has effectively forced stagnant banks into moving to the much more secure and private token system. (The bank's only reason not to support Apple Pay was to protect their transaction fees.)

    Every industry seems to fear Apple's involvement, but the net effect for consumers has always been the same: more choice, better security/privacy and better services by leveraging technology. What some of these companies fail to realise is that blocking a new technology doesn't make it go away, it just opens the door to competitors.

    I can say confidently that the fractional loss in transaction fees for supporting Apple Pay and similar services is far smaller than the fees and capital lost by customers who switched to competitors. (I for one switched credit cards to take advantage of the convenience of Apple Pay.)
    Well, to be fair, the banks were already working on their own tokenization services, which just like Apple's is based on the EMV spec. Apple Pay may have prompted them to accelerate their development. Apple and Interac have both acknowledged that a big part, in fact the main part, of the 1.5 years delay was the banks insistence that Apple Pay use the Interac tokenization service even though Apple already had as good or better on their own. And while the banks probably did put up a fight over the fees, then ended up agreeing to very similar fees to what the US banks originally signed on for. Initially they will also pay the 15 cents/$100, but it decreases after a certain threshold.
    jamesnay
  • Reply 7 of 16
    tulkastulkas Posts: 3,757member
    misa said:
    Added my main card to Apple Pay. Now I can finally go outside without any cards *cough*wait-a-sec*

    So just as a warning, as I also jumped on the AMEX Apple Pay originally. The POS systems will sometimes reject and request inserting your card. If you see that, you'll still need your card to complete that transaction. AMEX is seen as a US-issued/US card by default, if you insert the AMEX card it will try to do a chip+sign transaction. So don't be surprised if it does this.

    Weird. I've been using it since it launched and never had that problem. Worst I've had is amex not being supported and some stores (Staples) imposing a transaction limit, which Amex on Apple Pay isn't suppose to have.
    Dan Andersen
  • Reply 8 of 16
    jbishop1039jbishop1039 Posts: 258member
    The nice part with this in Canada too is that you don't even have to worry about whether the store you're at supports Apple Pay. As long as they have Interac Flash, it'll work. Used it at my local grocery store awhile back. The people running the store has no idea what i was doing :)
    Dan Andersenchia
  • Reply 9 of 16
    ericthehalfbeeericthehalfbee Posts: 4,489member
    I'm glad that working with Amex has seemingly been a win-win scenario for Apple and Amex. This has effectively forced stagnant banks into moving to the much more secure and private token system. (The bank's only reason not to support Apple Pay was to protect their transaction fees.)

    Every industry seems to fear Apple's involvement, but the net effect for consumers has always been the same: more choice, better security/privacy and better services by leveraging technology. What some of these companies fail to realise is that blocking a new technology doesn't make it go away, it just opens the door to competitors.

    I can say confidently that the fractional loss in transaction fees for supporting Apple Pay and similar services is far smaller than the fees and capital lost by customers who switched to competitors. (I for one switched credit cards to take advantage of the convenience of Apple Pay.)

    It was reported that Interac spent the last year-and-a-half updating their system to support EMV tokenization.

    I know it's hip to slam the big banks and blame them, but since they rely on Interac to process debit cards they were pretty much stuck waiting. Now they COULD have added credit cards earlier, but they stated they wanted to bring debit and credit online together.


    That said, adding my TD Card was a snap as I already had it on file with Apple. Took about 30 seconds for it to authorize. And in typical Canadian fashion, my first transaction this morning was at Tim Horton's.
    edited June 2016 jbishop1039jony0
  • Reply 10 of 16
    brucemcbrucemc Posts: 1,541member
    jbishop1039 said:
    The nice part with this in Canada too is that you don't even have to worry about whether the store you're at supports Apple Pay. As long as they have Interac Flash, it'll work. Used it at my local grocery store awhile back. The people running the store has no idea what i was doing :)
    The only contactless system that I have had a problem with so far is at gas stations - I get a "card error" message when using Apple Watch there & the whole thing resets.  Not sure why (haven't looked into it yet).
    ericthehalfbee said:

    That said, adding my TD Card was a snap as I already had it on file with Apple. Took about 30 seconds for it to authorize. And in typical Canadian fashion, my first transaction this morning was at Tim Horton's.
    Yeah, when I put my CIBC card in a few weeks ago, Timmies was the first thing I tried it out on (they have a small store in our office building). Pay with Watch is the most convenient.
    jbishop1039
  • Reply 11 of 16
    ericthehalfbeeericthehalfbee Posts: 4,489member
    brucemc said:
    jbishop1039 said:
    The nice part with this in Canada too is that you don't even have to worry about whether the store you're at supports Apple Pay. As long as they have Interac Flash, it'll work. Used it at my local grocery store awhile back. The people running the store has no idea what i was doing :)
    The only contactless system that I have had a problem with so far is at gas stations - I get a "card error" message when using Apple Watch there & the whole thing resets.  Not sure why (haven't looked into it yet).


    Do you mean at the pump or in the store? I'm not sure it would work at a gas pump as they like to pre-authorize over $100 at many of them before they even let you pump.
  • Reply 12 of 16
    jbishop1039jbishop1039 Posts: 258member
    One of my transactions got declined at the Apple Store of all places haha. Apparently there's a limit on transaction prices. 
  • Reply 13 of 16
    supadav03supadav03 Posts: 504member
    ericthehalfbee said:
    brucemc said:
    The only contactless system that I have had a problem with so far is at gas stations - I get a "card error" message when using Apple Watch there & the whole thing resets.  Not sure why (haven't looked into it yet).


    Do you mean at the pump or in the store? I'm not sure it would work at a gas pump as they like to pre-authorize over $100 at many of them before they even let you pump.
    I've had similar issues at the gas station (Chevron, inside) but only when i select debit as transaction type. Realized i should always select credit and it goes threw every time.
  • Reply 14 of 16
    brucemcbrucemc Posts: 1,541member
    ericthehalfbee said:
    brucemc said:
    The only contactless system that I have had a problem with so far is at gas stations - I get a "card error" message when using Apple Watch there & the whole thing resets.  Not sure why (haven't looked into it yet).


    Do you mean at the pump or in the store? I'm not sure it would work at a gas pump as they like to pre-authorize over $100 at many of them before they even let you pump.
    At the pump.  The contactless for my credit card works OK, but not when same credit card is used on AW Pay.  I was surprised a couple years ago when they put in contactless readers (at some gas retailers) as the pre-authorize was over the $100 limit.  Perhaps the EMV token method isn't working with pre-authorization transactions?
  • Reply 15 of 16
    RandallCraigRandallCraig Posts: 1member
    Just added my TD bank personal visa - it was great. Unfortunately, the system DOES NOT work with TD Business Visa cards.  (I know it is TD's fault, not Apple's: nonetheless, it is one step forward, one step back...)
  • Reply 16 of 16
    willingkingwillingking Posts: 5member
    It's about time
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