But the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, National Australia Bank, Westpac Banking Corp and Bendigo and Adelaide Bank have vowed to continue their fight against the technology giant. As a result, the banks will rewrite their submissions to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) seeking permission to collectively negotiate with Apple to allow their own digital wallets to access the iPhones near-field communication (NFC) antenna, necessary to make contactless payments.
The ACCC will make a final decision in the case in March 2017. Still, ACCC said it had not been convinced by the banks proposals, which could distort competition between mobile operating systems, reduce competitive tension between banks individually negotiating with Apple, and reduce competition between the banks in the supply of mobile payment services for iPhones.
Apple acknowledged that the only plausible explanation for the banks attitude is the fact that they want to direct customers to their own proprietary apps, which will only provide access to their own credit and debit cards. This contrasts with Apple Pay, which lets users toggle between cards.
Furthermore, the tech company also argued granting the banks own digital wallets direct access to the NFC antenna would compromise security and user experience.
According to Financial Review, Apple and the banks might explore a compromise that would allow their proprietary wallets to access the NFC, so long as payments are routed through Apple Pay and the security infrastructure known as the secure element. This could lead to a fee be paid to Apple.
ANZ Banking Group has already agreed to give up some of its interchange fee to Apple to turn on Apple Pay. The amount of the fee has not been disclosed. The move has driven new customers to ANZ, the online publication continues.
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