Apple continued an accelerated worldwide rollout of its in-house payments service Apple Pay on Tuesday with a debut in France, the eighth major market to gain compatibility since launch. Just hours after Apple Pay launched in France, Apple activated the in-house mobile payments service for customers in Hong Kong with initial support for Mastercard, Visa and American Express credit cards.
In France, Mastercard and Visa credit cards marketed through Banque Populaire, Caisse Epargne, Carrefour Banque and Ticket Restaurant can be provisioned through the service, with upcoming support slated for Boon and Orange. Apple lists 15 major chains as participating retailers, including its own brick-and-mortar stores, with future support promised from Boulanger, Orange and department store Galleries Lafayette.
Todays launch comes less than two weeks after Switzerland gained Apple Pay support earlier this month, and about a month after Apple revealed progress toward a French debut at this year’s Worldwide Developers Conference in June.
Visa announced that Visa debit and credit cardholders from French banks Banque Populaire et Caisse d’Epargne (BPCE group) now have access to Apple Pay which launched on July 19th. Apple Pay can be used to touch and pay wherever Visa contactless payment is accepted. France already has over 400,000 merchant locations live with contactless payment today, with mandates in place for all merchants to accept Visa contactless payment by 2020.
Gérard Nébouy, Regional Managing Director France, commented: “Consumer demand for contactless payments combined with the huge popularity of smartphones incorporating NFC technology has put in place a foundation for a shift from plastic to digital.” He added: “With today’s launch of Apple Pay, it is clear that mobile solutions will fast become a popular way to use a Visa card. French people are really enthusiastic for new ways to pay using the devices they carry each day, and we are proud to be taking an active part in enabling this transformation of commerce.”
Announced through Apple’s regional website, Hong Kong is the ninth major market to net Apple Pay services after France, which just gained access to the product earlier today. At launch, users in Hong Kong can provision Mastercard and Visa credit cards offered through the Bank of China, DBS, Hang Seng Bank, HSBC and Standard Chartered. American Express is also offering integration with its own branded cards. Apple’s website notes future compatibility with BEA and HKT touchless payment network Tap & Go.
Since its U.S. introduction in 2014, Apple Pay has expanded to Australia, Canada, China, Singapore, Switzerland and the UK.
In an interview earlier this year, Apple Pay chief Jennifer Bailey said the company is currently focused on an aggressive rollout in Europe and Asia, but the goal is to bring the service to every major market in which Apple products are sold.
Source: appleinsider.com & finextra.com
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:
