Banks shoot themselves in the foot – citing an Apple Pay advocate in ACCC submission

Sometimes things just don’t go your way do they.  Take the big banks, well, all except the ANZ of course.  Those multi-billion dollar profit makers who are in submissions to the ACCC to be allowed to act as a cartel in negotiations with Apple.  Turns out, someone at the banks isn’t keen on research much.

In their most recent submission to the ACCC, in response to other submissions including Apple – the Banks cite a “twitter exchange” between the NAB and Damian Murphy in their proof that “non-integrated” wallets are not perceived well by end users.

A non-integrated wallet is things like those stick on NFC cards the banks were issuing to allow you to tap your phone to pay.  You’re really just tapping a card stuck to your phone and nothing more.

Mr Murphy was clearly not impressed by the NAB’s offer – “yeah, nah” was his response.

But in citing that example of user frustration with the idea of a stick on NFC card, the banks missed something simple.  Damian Murphy wants Apple Pay, pure and simple.

EFTM spoke to Mr Murphy today and he confirmed that he was interested in the “integrated wallet, transaction history, multiple cards from different banks” that came with Apple Pay.

Critically, he noted his desire to have the entire wallet experience, not just banking cards, and with the security of “Touch ID”.

He went on to say “I trust Apple more than I’d trust a bank’s own app”.

While he’s not alone, he’s certainly not on the bank’s side here.  And while the banks keep flat-out ignoring the calls from their own customers to make Apple Pay available, ANZ, AMEX and now 37 other banks have all got Apple Pay working for their customers with no complaints in sight.