On Friday, Apple added another 32 US financial institutions on its
Apple Pay partner site who are now supporting the company's mobile payments technology, bringing the total in the United States up to an even 1,000 (not including two "loyalty card" issuers, BJ's Wholesale and Kohl's). The news comes following reports that Apple Pay is now accepted at
over two million terminals worldwide and further reports that a number of name-brand chains is set to expand significantly across 2016.
The US-based issuer American Express has also implemented support for branded Amex bank cards to work with Apple Pay in countries outside the US, currently including Canada and Australia, with other countries such as Spain. In addition, Apple has worked with
UnionPay in China to bring Apple Pay support to that region, and of course Apple has also made Apple Pay available in the UK with all the major banks (with Barclay's bringing up the rear). Ironically, supported US-based cards work widely outside the US, where merchants upgraded to NFC-compatible point-of-sale terminals many years ago -- EMV machines that support the new "chip-and-PIN" cards that are only just becoming widespread in the US.
The new banks and credit unions that have been added to the list include Anderson Brothers Bank, Bank & Trust Company, Bank of Labor, Bank of Yazoo, BankWest, Brown County State Bank, Busey Bank, Campbell & Fetter Bank, Central Bank of Oklahoma, Collinsville Savings Society, Core Bank, Covantage Credit Union, Diversified Members Credit Union, Farmington Bank, Florida Parishes Bank, Fort Worth Community Credit Union, Great Midwest Bank, Horizon Bank NA, Litchfield Bancorp, Luther Burbank Savings, and Mississippi National Guard Federal Credit Union
Also added were Oregon Community Credit Union, Pathfinder Bank, Platinum Federal Credit Union, Qualstar Credit Union, Red River Bank, Seven Seventeen Credit Union, T Bank, The Citizens Bank, Titonka Savings Bank, US Employees O.C. Federal Credit Union, and Wallis State Bank.