While Apple Pay recently became available to users in Australia, it so far is an American Express-only service. The Australian Labor Party spokesman on digital innovation says that’s due to anti-competitive behavior on the part of Australian banks.
Sydney Morning Herald, via 9to5Mac:
The Reserve Bank has been urged to examine potential anti-competitive behaviour in the emerging card-free payments market amid claims the banks have frozen out newcomer Apple Pay […]
“Australian consumers should not be denied the ability to make payment choices that are openly available to consumers globally,” Ed Husic wrote. “No doubt some will argue this move by the banks is anti-competitive – I am certainly concerned that it denies consumer access to a secure, efficient payment platform.”
One big point of contention for Australian banks is the fees that Apple wants for Apple Pay usage. While U.S. banks typically make a $1 on every $100 transaction, with Apple taking $0.15 of that, Australian banks only take $0.50 on the same $100 transaction, however, Apple still wants its $0.15 share.
Another reason Australian banks are reluctant to join the Apple Pay rolls is due to the fact that banks in the country already have their own mobile payment apps set up, and argue that consumers aren’t missing out on anything by not having access to Apple Pay.
9to5Mac notes that while MasterCard is ready to hook up with Apple Pay in the land down under, Visa is quite happy with the mobile payments arrangement it already has in place, thank you very much!
Apple continues to work to roll Apple Pay out internationally, with users in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, and now Australia. Next on the agenda is likely China, with a report earlier this week saying Apple was getting its ducks all in a row for a February 2016 launch in that country.
