Australian bank ANZ, the first of the country’s “big four” banks to offer support for Apple Pay, has experienced a 20% jump in online credit card and deposit account applications since announcing support for Apple’s contactless payments system. That has caused the three holdout banks to rethink things.
In April, ANZ became the first of Australia’s “big four” banks to break rank and adopt Apple Pay, rolling out initial support for bank issued Visa credit and debit cards. Shortly after the service launched, chief executive Shayne Elliott credited the ensuing social media buzz with a 20 percent uptick in applications and heightened interest in the company’s website, The Australian Financial Review reported last week. The bank’s Apple Pay mini site, for example, logged 61,000 unique visitors over four days.
The other members of the Australian banking big four, Commonwealth Bank, National Australia Bank and Westpac, have tried to avoid supporting Apple’s mobile payments solution, in a move to protect their credit card transaction fees, which are estimated to be in the billions.
According to the publication, the Reserve Bank of Australia is looking to lower transaction fees to 30 cents for $100 of transactions, down from 50 cents per $100. By comparison, Apple is thought to net 15 cents for every $100 Apple Pay transaction in the U.S.
The Australian Financial Review reports that in the wake of ANZ’s success with Apple Pay, the other banks are once again negotiating for future Apple Pay support.
