Australian banks push back against Apple Pay
The big four Australian banks are pushing back against introducing Apple Pay over the fees Apple wants to charge them The Sydney Morning Herald reports:
"Fairfax Media understands fees are a big sticking point in the negotiations, with big banks not willing to give Apple a slice of the $2 billion a year they earn in interchange fees, which are paid by merchants for use of payments infrastructure.
In the United States, Apple is believed to earn about 15¢ on every $100 of transactions. It is understood Apple has been asking for the same amount of interchange fee in Australia.
But Australia's big banks will not agree to this level given that interchange fees in Australia are about half the US level – equivalent to an average of 50¢ $100 of transaction compared with about $1 for $100 of transaction fees in the US."
It's inevitable that Apple Pay will arrive in Australia and we'll have an advantage over the US in that we already have more infrastructure in place as Apple Pay will work on the same terminals that already accept PayPass and PayWave.
(Source: smh.com.au)
