Apple Pay in New Zealand is available through a partnership with ANZ bank, meaning it can only be used with Visa credit and debit cards issued by ANZ at this time.
The mobile payment service will be accepted by some of the country’s major retailers. However, Apple warned that an additional PIN code may be required for purchases of over 80 New Zealand dollars, a restriction that is also implemented in several other countries for security purposes.
Apple Pay allows users to save their credit card details onto their iPhone devices, instead of storing the actual card numbers on the device or on Apple servers, and then they can pay via contactless terminals in shops or purchase items through apps.
Some banks in Australia and New Zealand have been reluctant to accept Apple Pay due to the fee Apple collects. ANZ executive Liz Maguire told Stuff Apple Pay was worth the fee.
„For us it much more about the value it brings out customers than anything else. I think we’re going to see a lot of people using it because it’s so easy.”
ANZ CEO New Zealand David Hisco said: “More than 50 per cent of ANZ Visa transactions are contactless and this number is steadily increasing as more retailers adopt contactless technology. Adding Apple Pay to our mobile payment offering will make it fast and convenient for more customers to securely make every day purchases wherever there is a contactless terminal.”
„When you use a credit or debit card 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.”, according to the press release.
In Australia, applications for ANZ’s credit card increased by 20 per cent after announcing the Apple Pay deal there in April, the bank said.
Maguire said ANZ had seen huge growth in mobile banking with about one-third of its customers using its app. User growth was up 427 per cent in the past three years. Maguire said those figures along with the fact that 55 per cent of all card transactions are contactless means New Zealand has reached a tipping point with mobile banking.
However, that, and the arrival of Apple Pay, doesn’t mean you can leave your wallet at home.
„It depends on what you’re leaving your house to do. If you know you’re going down to your local cafe and they take contactless, then absolutely … but if you’re doing a big shopping spree then you probably need to take your plastic card as well,” she said.
It’s not the first mobile payment service in New Zealand, but it’s the first for iPhone owners without needing a tag stuck to your phone.
ANZ is the only bank in New Zealand that accepts it and is also currently the only bank supporting Apple Pay in Australia. Apple said it was up to other banks to approach them if they wanted Apple Pay for their customers.
Apple Pay’s competitors, Android Pay and Samsung Pay, are not yet available in New Zealand. Instead, Kiwi banks use their own apps on Android phones to allow customers to make mobile payments.
Apple Pay is now available in the United States, the UK, China, Australia, Russia, Canada, Switzerland, Singapore, France, Hong Kong, Japan and New Zealand. Later in 2016, Apple plans to expand Apple Pay to Spain through a partnership with American Express and to Taiwan.
Banking 4.0 – „how was the experience for you”
„So many people are coming here to Bucharest, people that I see and interact on linkedin and now I get the change to meet them in person. It was like being to the Football World Cup but this was the World Cup on linkedin in payments and open banking.”
Many more interesting quotes in the video below:
