The New Google Pay Isn’t Coming to Australia Yet [Updated]

In the early hours of Thursday morning Google will be unveiling its new Google Pay app. However, if any Australians were pumped for it, sorry! It’s not coming here yet.

Update November 19: New Google Pay Unveiled

On Thursday morning Google unveiled its brand new Google Pay app. Now, instead of just offering peer-to-peer payments, it also includes Explore and Insights functions.

Explore is where users can find deals and discounts. The algorithm will be able to detect which it thinks are most relevant for you based on purchase history. According to Google it won’t use any of the data collected to sell to third parties or share it to other parts of Google for targeted ad purposes.

Insights provides an overview of your finances if you have connected any bank accounts to the app. And if you really want to go hard on finance tracking, you can allow the new Google Pay to trawl your Gmail and Google Photos to find and add receipts.

Pay works much the same way as it does now, but with the added option of adding group payments. You can add multiple people to an in-app chat where money can be sent and requested. This is most likely going to be useful in household and restaurant bill splitting situations.

Businesses you have paid money to will also be saved, as will any rewards or loyalty cards you have associated with them.

Lastly, petrol will be able to be paid for directly from the app, and food can be ordered from it too. Watch out, Uber.

Lastly, Google unveiled Plex — a service that lets you handle basic banking right from the app. It is only compatible with eleven financial institutions in the U.S. right now.

The Google Pay certainly has gotten an overhaul. But for us Aussies, and anyone else outside of the U.S. it’s superfluous for the timing being. There’s no word on when the new Google Pay may roll out in other countries.

You can read the original story below.

Last year it was announced that Google was looking to open its own digital-first bank accounts. The in August, eight U.S. banks announced they would be partnering with Google to make this a reality. Furthermore, Google made mention of the involvement of Google Pay, including added extras such as budgeting tools.

“We had confirmed earlier that we are exploring how we can partner with banks and credit unions in the US to offer digital bank accounts through Google Pay, helping their customers benefit from useful insights and budgeting tools, while keeping their money in an FDIC or NCUA-insured account,” Google said in a statement at the time.

“We are excited that six new banks have signed up to offer digital checking and savings. In addition to Citi and Stanford Federal Credit Union, we will also be working with Bank Mobile, BBVA USA, BMO Harris, Coastal Community Bank, First Independence Bank, and SEFCU.”

It seems quite safe to assume that a significant portion of the new Google Pay will involve the inclusion of these digital bank account partnerships. But while there has also been rumours regarding A Google branded debit card also being thrown into the mix, it’s unclear if this will rear its head during the unveiling.

The announcement itself will be happening at 4:27 am AEDT on Thursday morning. That will be 3:57am ACDT, 3:27am AEST, 2:57am ACST and 1:27am AWST.

“We invite you to watch live and learn more about the new Google Pay app, designed to help you improve your relationship with money. It’s coming to Android and iOS, starting in the US,” Google’s YouTube channel reads.

It’s unclear if or when the new Google Pay will be rolling out in countries other than the U.S.

You can watch the live stream right here: