The Commonwealth Bank has joined ANZ as the second of the big four banks to support Apple Pay for its customers. From today, CBA and Bankwest personal debit and credit cards can be added to Apple Pay as the bank seems to have settled its differences with Apple over how transaction fees are shared.
CommBank first announced that they’d be adding the new payment platform late last year. Apple Pay can be used anywhere that you can tap and pay, at more than 95 per cent of locations in Australia.
Setting up Apple Pay is very easy.
- On a compatible iOS device, go to Settings and then tap on Wallet & Apple Pay.
- Tap on the Add Card link.
- Follow the on-screen instructions to add your card. The process uses the camera to scan and read the card number, expiry date and cardholder name. Or you can enter the details manually.
- The information is then validated by the bank.
- Once the validation is complete, you’re done.
Apple Pay can also be used on the Apple Watch and on a Mac.
Now that two of the four big banks are onboard with Apple, we can assume that NAB and Westpac will follow suit. For international travellers, it’s worth noting that a bunch of major US retailers, including target, are finally supporting Apple Pay as well after obstinately trying to set up their own rival, an=d inferior in my experience, payment systems.
Australians lead the world when it comes to the use of contactless payments. Now that CBA, ANZ and host of smaller banks and credit card issuers are onboard, the remaining banks will need to catch up. Today’s tech savvy generation expect this stuff to just work and will move their business to banks that support what they want.