Apple Pay Bolsters Support Among US Financial Institutions

Apple Pay has welcomed 30 additional banks and credit unions to its roster of US supporters.

Once again, with most major banks having already signed on, the new batch of supporters mostly represent smaller, more regional institutions such as Morris County National Bank and San Diego Firefighters Federal Credit Union. But every little bit helps as Apple continues to strengthen its base of support among US financial institutions while other mPayment platforms work to build their own.

Still, for some, the growing gap between Apple Pay’s number of financial institution supports and its roster of merchant partners is irksome, with the platform’s arguably slow pace on the latter front hindering wider adoption of the service. That situation is somewhat particular to the US market, where the NFC technology needed for Apple Pay transactions isn’t yet widespread; whereas in countries like Canada, where the service just gained major bank support, Apple Pay can be used with any of the many merchants currently accepting contactless payment cards. With the EMV shift currently underway in the US and NFC readers likely to accompany EMV adoption in many incidences, Apple may be choosing not to focus too much of its resources on pushing merchant support in the country.

Sources: 9to5Mac, AppleInsider