Apple Pay coming to 37 more Aussie banks, still not the other big three

Slow and steady she goes, but more and more Australians are starting to get access to Apple’s tap and go mobile payment system Apple Pay after payment solutions provider Cuscal announced more than 30 of their banks and financial institutions were enabling Apple Pay for their customers.

With Bank of Sydney, Police Bank, Teachers Credit Union among the long list of financial institutions Cuscal is enabling Apple Pay for there will certainly be a large number of new Tap and Go watch and phone payments happening when it becomes active.

UPDATE: Apple Pay has been enabled for these institutions as of 15 November

No word from the banks as to an exact date, but you can expect from previous experience it will be available before Christmas.

Jennifer Bailey, Vice President of Apple Pay told EFTM “We want as many Australians as possible to be able to use Apple Pay, and we are thrilled that customers from more than 30 of Cuscal’s banks and credit unions, including People’s Choice Credit Union, Credit Union Australia and Teacher’s Mutual Bank, will be able to enjoy the convenience, security and privacy of Apple Pay. Today more than 3500 banks across 12 countries already support Apple Pay and we think Cuscal’s customers will really love using Apple Pay for everyday purchases in stores, apps and on the web.”

Bank Australia is one of the banks enabling ApplePay – they have nearly 130,000and report that more than 60% of its customers use Apple devices to access the bank’s online services

“Bank Australia is proud to be among the early financial institutions in Australia to offer its customers Apple Pay,” said Bank Australia Managing Director Damien Walsh.

“Our customers have been asking us for Apple Pay, and we’re excited to respond,” said Walsh.

This announcement comes as the ACCC publish Apple’s latest response to the big-three’s attempt to get approval to act as a cartel in negotiating with Apple.  The response from Apple goes into great detail to re-affirm the strong security measures in place with Apple Pay and the importance of the customer experience.

The ACCC are yet to make a ruling on the application, though that is expected to come this month.

Here’s the full list of banks and credit unions soon to get Apple Pay as a result of the Cuscal announcement:

• Bank Australia
• Bank of Sydney
• Beyond Bank Australia
• Big Sky Building Society
• Australian Unity
• CAPE Credit Union
• Central West Credit Union
• Illawarra Credit Union
• Catalyst Money
• Community First Credit Union
• Northern Beaches Credit Union
• Credit Union Australia (CUA)
• Credit Union SA
• Defence Bank
• EECU
• First Option Credit Union
• Goldfields Money
• Goulburn Murray Credit Union Co-Op
• Holiday Coast Credit Union
• Horizon Credit Union
• Intech Credit Union
• Laboratories Credit Union
• My State Bank
• The Rock
• Northern Inland Credit Union
• People’s Choice Credit Union
• Police Bank
• Customs Bank
• QT Mutual Bank
• Select Encompass Credit Union
• South West Slopes Credit Union
• Sydney Credit Union
• Teachers Mutual Bank
• UniBank
• The Mac (Macarthur Credit Union)
• Warwick Credit Union
• Woolworths Employees’ Credit Union

Disclosure: The Author is personally strongly against the ACCC making a finding in favour of the banks and has made a public submission to that effect.