CUA, FCCS, Nexus Mutual, People’s Choice Credit Union, SCU More Generous Banking, and Woolworths Employee’s Credit Union are the six financial institutions now offering Apple Pay to members.
If you've got an iPhone, or an Apple Watch too, you can now use those devices with several banks in Australia and a host of credit unions.
CBA, NAB and Westpac are still the shameless major banking holdouts actively choosing not to do a deal with Apple to offer Apple Pay to customers, but thankfully, there's plenty of choice available to discerning account holders.
The choices grew even larger today with eftpos, Australia’s own debit payments network, announcing that "eftpos-only cardholders from six Cuscal sponsored financial institutions can now use Apple Pay, which is transforming mobile payments with an easy, secure and private way to pay that’s fast and convenient".
{loadposition alex08}eftpos acting chief executive Paul Jennings said that "leading independent payments company Cuscal has worked with eftpos to enable six financial institutions to launch eftpos for Apple Pay today, offering their eftpos cardholders the choice of using Apple Pay with eftpos".
As noted above, the Cuscal sponsored financial institutions include "CUA, FCCS, Nexus Mutual, People’s Choice Credit Union, SCU More Generous Banking, and Woolworths Employee’s Credit Union".
Jennings said Apple Pay with eftpos "will provide eligible eftpos cardholders with the ability to make eftpos purchases on their iPhone or Apple Watch using their own money, processed in real time".
And, as we've read in previous articles on the topic, and as Apple and eftpos advise, "security and privacy is at the core of Apple Pay. When you use an eftpos card from participating financial institutions with Apple Pay, the actual card numbers are not stored on the device, nor on Apple servers".
"Instead, a unique Device Account Number is assigned, encrypted and securely stored in the Secure Element on your device. Each transaction is authorised with a one-time unique dynamic security code."
Jennings added: “Today marks another significant milestone for eftpos as we enable more consumers with an iPhone or Apple Watch to choose eftpos to make a transaction from their CHQ or SAV account.
“As Australia’s most used debit card network, we are thrilled to provide consumers from these participating financial institutions with more payment choice, with added benefits of enhanced security and convenience."
Cuscal’s general manager Product and Service, Robert Bell said: “Tens of thousands of eftpos cardholders can now pay with their iPhones, providing greater choice for our clients’ customers. We provide leading digital payment solutions to our clients, helping them to compete on a more level playing field with the big banks.”
In stores, Apple Pay works with iPhone SE, iPhone 6 and later, and Apple Watch. To set up Apple Pay, cardholders from participating banks and credit unions simply need to open the Apple Wallet app in iOS 11 and follow the prompts.
