On Friday, Apple added another 27 US financial institutions on its Apple Pay partner site who are now supporting the company's mobile payments technology, notably including a now-rare major multi-national institution, in the form of PNC's Global Investment Servicing division. Most large US and multi-national US-based banks added support for Apple Pay early on in the technology's history, leaving PNC's GIS division as an "odd man out."
The news follows reports that somewhere
between one and three million bank cards in China have been linked to Apple Pay in the first 48 hours of availability there, and that there are more than
two million points of sale compatible with the mobile-wallet technology from Apple and others, thanks to a slow but ongoing move to frequently NFC-friendly EMV-compatible card reader point-of-sale terminals.
A passel of US restaurant chains -- from
Cinnabon to Starbucks -- and other merchants are adding or expanding Apple Pay support at their locations over the course of 2016, as have Crate & Barrel, JC Penney, and American Apparel. Once a merchant replaces the traditional "swipe-only" reader with the newer EMV (chip-and-PIN) card readers, they often also have NFC "contactless" or "tap to pay" card support as well -- which will generally accept Apple Pay whether the merchant is aware of it or not.
Consumers who want to know if a given point-of-sale terminal supports Apple Pay can look for instructions that include the option to "tap" a card -- for all intents and purposes, a compatible iPhone or Apple Watch with a supported card will work exactly the same way "contactless" MasterCard- and Visa-badged cards do. The Wallet app on the iPhone 6 or later (or Watch) must be open, with the preferred payment card selected, for the process to work -- however, using Apple Pay takes just a fraction of the traditional time needed to handle traditional swipe-and-sign or chip-and-PIN card transactions.
The new banks, credit unions, and other institutions now supporting Apple Pay on their issued debit and credit cards include: 1st Community Federal Credit Union, Abacus Federal Savings Bank, Bank of England (US), BankFirst Financial Services, Bull's Eye Credit Union, Colfax Banking Company, Columbia Bank Florida, First Bank, First Federal Bank of Louisiana, First National Bank of Durango First Southern National, Franklin First Federal Credit Union, Green Country Federal Credit Union, Gulf States Credit Union, and Guthrie County State Bank.
In addition, Henrico Federal Credit Union, Lone Star National Bank, Mill City Credit Union, Modern Woodmen Bank, Pasadena Federal Credit Union, the aforementioned PNC Bank (Global Investment Servicing division), Raleigh County Federal Credit Union, Sage Capital Bank, St. Landry Bank and Trust Company, TCM Bank, and West Milton State Bank have all been added. Apple now boasts 1,072 US issuers that support its mobile-payment technology (not including two "loyalty card" issuers, BJ's Wholesale and Kohl's).
Top