Westpac, the second largest bank in Australia, has announced plans to implement support for Apple Pay across its brands in 2020, reports The Sydney Morning Herald.
Apple Pay is now available for the St. George, BankSA, and Bank of Melbourne brands. Customers of these banks with an eligible Visa debit or credit card can now use Apple Pay for contactless payments and online purchases in Australia.
Westpac customers will have access to Apple Pay by June 2020, and the rollout to the main Westpac brand is said to take longer because Westpac currently uses a different banking platform. As the Westpac system is updated, Apple Pay will be rolling out for its regional brands.
"We want to assure Westpac customers we are working to bring them Apple Pay as quickly as possible, while we roll-out the technology across our different banking platforms," said chief executive of consumer banking David Lindberg.
Westpac has been a notable Apple Pay holdout and is the fourth of Australia's "big four" banks to implement support for Apple Pay. Along with NAB and Commonwealth Bank, Westpac attempted to collectively bargain with Apple in an attempt to force Apple to open up the iPhone's NFC capabilities to support other digital wallets, like those offered by Westpac itself.
Apple argued that this would be harmful to consumers and would stifle innovation, and Australian regulators took Apple's side in the dispute. The banks were not provided with authorization to collectively bargain with Apple.
ANZ, one of the four major banks, has supported Apple Pay since it launched in Australia. Commonwealth Bank, Australia's largest bank, has supported Apple Pay since January 2019, and NAB implemented support in May 2019.
