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Apple Pay Expands to Additional Banks in Germany, Austria, and the Netherlands

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Apr 12, 2001
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Apple Pay has expanded to more banks in Europe today, including ING in Germany, bunq in Austria, and ABN AMRO in the Netherlands.

apple-pay-ing-germany.jpg

ING supporting Apple Pay in Germany is notable after a lengthy waiting period following the original announcement. Apple Pay made its debut in Germany in December, allowing iPhone and Apple Watch users in the country to take advantage of the contactless mobile payments service if their card issuer supports it.

Meanwhile, the Federation of German Cooperative banks (BVR) are said to be preparing for Apple Pay support, as are the Sparkassen and Giroverbandes (DSGV) association of savings banks. Both the BVR and the savings banks could start offering support later this year.

Also today, European challenger bank bunq brought Apple Pay to its customers in Austria. "Austrian users can now enable both Maestro and Mastercard cards for Apple Pay, so they get the best of both worlds. This gives them the freedom to pay with their iPhone or Apple Watch, whenever they want, wherever they go," said bunq founder and CEO Ali Niknam.


Last but not least, ABN AMRO, one of the largest banks in the Netherlands, announced Apple Pay support in early September and now the bank's customers can finally start using Apple's payment service. Rabobank is expected to offer support in the country soon.

Apple Pay has been gradually expanding across Europe and the Middle East, launching in Poland, Norway, Kazakhstan, Belgium, Germany, Czech Republic, Saudi Arabia, Austria, and Iceland over the last year.

Apple CEO Tim Cook said in March that Apple Pay would be available in more than 40 countries and regions by the end of 2019. Apple Pay first launched in the United States in October 2014. You can view the full list of Apple Pay countries and regions on Apple's website.

(Thanks, Geert!)

Article Link: Apple Pay Expands to Additional Banks in Germany, Austria, and the Netherlands
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2019/10/15/apple-pay-ing-bunq-abn-amro-germany-austria-dutch/
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Does anyone know the process by which a bank rolls out Apple Pay support? There's been a rumors going around where I live that Apple is artificially restricting support to banks who are willing to spend large marketing dollars on the announcement. When I asked a friend who works for Apple he said that they don't do that and any bank is free to add support if they choose to. I'm curious to know the details behind why some banks still don't support it. For example, does it cost a lot to implement?

Edit: also, interestingly, my account is with Citibank. Citibank US supports Apple Pay but not in the country I live in (UAE). So it seems it's not purely an implementation at the bank level.
 
Activated just now within a minute without any issues, excited to try it out later today.
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Tovenaar said:
For example, does it cost a lot to implement?
Click to expand...
Apple takes a (very?) small percentage of every transaction, so that's why some banks may be hesitant.
 
ING in Germany is of no importance whatsoever.

The big news is BVR and DSGV preparing, because that means ApplePay is available for cards that Germans are actually using in large numbers.
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thecastle said:
Apple takes a (very?) small percentage of every transaction, so that's why some banks may be hesitant.
Click to expand...
On the other hand, ApplePay makes insider fraud much more difficult (you buy something by card at a shop, some rogue employee copies your information, and shortly afterwards fraudulent charges start). Whatever banks are charged, I think they save a lot more because of reduced fraud.
 
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MacRumors said:
Apple Pay made its debut in Germany in December, allowing iPhone and Apple Watch users in the country to take advantage of the contactless mobile payments service if their card issuer supports it.

Meanwhile, the Federation of German Cooperative banks (BVR) are said to be preparing for Apple Pay support, as are the Sparkassen and Giroverbandes (DSGV) association of savings banks. Both the BVR and the savings banks could start offering support later this year.
Click to expand...
BVR and DSGV account for probably at least 80% of all individual checking accounts in Germany. In terms of the total amount of money held by individuals, they account for 60 to 65%. But since they are more the little man's banks, in terms of number of customers that translates almost certainly into the 80+% figure. The larger of the two 'groups', DSGV, has about 50 million customers in Germany (in a total population of 83 million where probably not all children have their own bank account). The BVR has 18.5 million members with not all customers also being being members, these two groups thus might have easily 70 million customers (with likely very little overlap between the two).

Getting those two groups on board is the difference between not mattering much and pretty much having fully made it (in terms of being an option for the customer).
 
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colmaclean said:
According to this, Sparkasse will initially only support credit card accounts with Apple Pay. Giro should come some time next year.
Click to expand...

Yes, that's confirmation from an official source. Awesome!

12. Kann ich auch mit meinem iPhone mobil bezahlen?
Die Sparkassen werden Apple Pay noch in diesem Jahr in Deutschland einführen und den Kunden diese einfache, sichere und vertrauliche Zahlungsweise anbieten. Zum Start in diesem Jahr werden Kreditkarten (Mastercard, VISA) unterstützt, die girocard (Debitkarte) bereiten die Sparkassen für 2020 vor.
Click to expand...

Comdirect do the same, and it's the only thing that bugs me about using ApplePay. I'd rather have it just replace my girocard.
 
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I recently spent 10 days in the Barcelona area with friends. I used my watch to pay using Apple Pay everywhere with every purchase I made, including all restaurants, gas stations, tours, but not the cannabis dispensary. Very cool. Two of our friends ordered Apple watches and the Apple Card the moment we were back.
 
I guess I will be waiting for ever for Commerzbank to support Apple Pay. I'm currently limited to using Apple Pay with my German AMEX card.
 
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bpp85 said:
The whole EU has Apple Pay, I'm actually surprised that apple expanded it so fast.
Click to expand...
On the other hand, Apple Pay Cash is still nowhere to be seen outside the US.

And that's not all: it seemed on the verge to launch... more than a year ago.
www.macrumors.com

Apple Pay Cash Likely to Launch in Europe Imminently

Apple Pay Cash, Apple's mobile peer-to-peer payments service, could be available sooner rather than later in some European markets. French tech...
www.macrumors.com www.macrumors.com
 
Tovenaar said:
Does anyone know the process by which a bank rolls out Apple Pay support? There's been a rumors going around where I live that Apple is artificially restricting support to banks who are willing to spend large marketing dollars on the announcement. When I asked a friend who works for Apple he said that they don't do that and any bank is free to add support if they choose to. I'm curious to know the details behind why some banks still don't support it. For example, does it cost a lot to implement?

Edit: also, interestingly, my account is with Citibank. Citibank US supports Apple Pay but not in the country I live in (UAE). So it seems it's not purely an implementation at the bank level.
Click to expand...


One of the silliest rumors in a while. Why would Apple not want every bank to support it? It makes Apple Pay more valuable and brings in more money. LOL. Yes, Apple has to make sure it complies with any local laws, but any bank is free to support it. There are thousands of banks, credit unions, you name it, etc., who support it. The hesitation is simply on the part of some major banks who don't want to give up the .015% Apple gets, but more importantly don't want to lose control of that customer. In the US, Apple Pay has had massive adoption among banking and financial institutions. Overseas, there are many fewer banks, etc., in countries and they have had much more of an oligarchy type control. Best example is Australia where the top 3 or 4 banks controlled everything and actually tried to have Apple Pay blocked in Australia.
 
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