Apple Pay finally expands to a string of other banks in Australia
Customers at Westpac’s subsidiary banks including St.George, Bank of Melbourne and BankSA now have access to the much-awaited Apple Pay.
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Customers at Westpac’s subsidiary banks now have access to the much-awaited Apple Pay.
For years customers at many financial institutions have complained about not having access to the smartphone payment capability.
But from today St.George, BankSA and Bank of Melbourne customers who have an eligible credit or debit card can start using Apple Pay.
This means people can do away with relying on their plastic cards to transact.
However, Westpac customers will still have to wait until as late as June next year until they can have access to the payment technology.
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Apple Pay arrived in the US in 2014 and the first big bank to roll it out in Australia was ANZ in April 2016.
Other big banks including National Australia Bank, Commonwealth Bank and ING also have Apple Pay.
Westpac group chief executive of consumer David Lindberg said delivering Apple Pay was a priority for the bank.
“We’re excited to introduce Apple Pay for St.George, Bank of Melbourne and BankSA as part of our commitment to changing out business to better meet the needs of customers,” he said in an issued statement.
“We want to assure Westpac customers we are working to bring them Apple Pay as quickly as possible, while we rollout the technology across our different banking platforms,” Mr Lindberg said.
The announcement by Westpac comes at a time when the bank has been embroiled in a scandal where they have been accused by AUSTRAC for enabling child sex exploitation in the Philippines.
They have been accused of breaching the law 23 million times.
Apple Pay is contactless payment technology that can be used on Apple devices including smartphones and smartwatches.
It was initially designed to help move customers away from having to carry physical payment cards with them.
Financial comparison website RateCity Sally Tindall said it was great more customers had access to Apple Pay.
“Westpac customers are still left waiting and they have been left waiting a lot longer than ANZ customers who got Apple Pay back in 2016,” she said.
“It’s technology that the other big banks have managed to embrace yet Westpac is still dragging the chain, however it’s good to know it’s coming.”
Westpac said they have different technology systems to St.George, BankSA and Bank of Melbourne hence the delay in them rolling it out.
sophie.elsworth@news.com.au
Originally published as Apple Pay finally expands to a string of other banks in Australia
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