Boom: ANZ Becomes First Australian Bank to Land Apple Pay

Well, well, well, look what we have here: the first Australian bank has signed onto Apple Pay. ANZ Bank has launched Apple Pay support, the first of the country’s big banks to support Apple’s mobile wallet (via MacRumors), beyond American Express cardholders.

In an interview with Reuters, Jennifer Bailey, vice president of Apple Pay, said in an interview, “Our customers … are much closer to being able to leave their wallets at home.” Bailey added Apple continues to be in negotiation with other banks to join Apple Pay, and hopes ANZ customers and Apple Pay will create competition for the service.

ANZ Bank is seen as trailing its three larger peers in digital technology, but ANZ’s new Chief Executive Shayne Elliott hopes Apple Pay will change this, saying “It would be pretty hypocritical of me to … do all this hoo-ha about digital banking and then not be at the forefront of change.”

Talks with Australia’s big four took “months of talks”, and it looks like ANZ emerged as the first out of the pack.

Earlier this month, we first told you Australian banks were set to support Apple Pay, with evidence of ANZ sending Apple Pay confirmation texts and emails to customers, according to our readers from Down Under. Looks like that turned out to be true.

Last fall, Australian banks were said to have ‘boycotted’ Apple Pay over credit card transactions fees, in what many believe to be a similar scenario playing out in Canada, as no Canadian bank has yet to announce support for the mobile wallet, despite evidence popping up periodically since last fall.

Many had hoped Apple would announce expansion of Apple Pay in Canada during yesterday’s earnings conference call, but nothing materialized. The company did say Apple Pay would expand, and that is what we are seeing now in Australia.

While we continue to track the expansion of Apple Pay here to a Canadian bank, some are seeing more hints, such as the following Apple Pay screenshot, which now appears when one tries to add a Scotiabank Visa Debit to the mobile wallet, as attempted by iPhone in Canada reader Vaughn.

The screen above appears to be a new message, for those looking to add their Scotiabank Visa Debit cards to Apple Pay.

The next possible announcement of Canadian bank participation in Apple Pay could come at WWDC this summer, or in the fall, when many expect Apple to announce the ‘iPhone 7’. Or sooner, but don’t get your hopes up as you may be disappointed.