Apple Pay to launch in Canada in November

Apple plans to launch its mobile payments service, Apple Pay, in Canada later this year. A report in the Wall Street Journal claims that Apple is in negotiations with six Canadian banks about a possible November launch, which debuted in the US last year but is not yet available in any other country.

Apple Pay to support six Canadian banks

The Canadian banks in talks with Apple apparently include the Royal Bank of Canada, TD Canada Trust, Scotiabank, Bank of Montreal, CIBC and National Bank of Canada. Those banks make up more than 90% of all Candian bank accounts, and have indicated that they are open to support Apple Pay amid concerns about security issues.

“The banks are open to an agreement, but they aren’t happy with Apple’s fee proposals and are concerned about security vulnerabilities like the ones that U.S. banks experienced as they rolled out the service, the people said”.

Canada is in fact well prepared to launch Apple Pay, as many businesses are already equipped with wireless payment terminals that are needed for the iPhone-based payments service. Canada was also one of the early adopters of chip-and-PIN for credit cards, where the cards can also be tapped on a terminal when making a purchase.

The banks have reportedly joined together in a consortium to develop a security protocol for Apple Pay. They have also considered the need for secondary authentication, such as a PIN, logging onto a banking app or using a one-time passcode send via text message, before cards can be used on Apple Pay.

Apple stated last year that it aims to expand Apple Pay internationally, and much of the speculation has focused on Canada, China and the UK. In China however, there have been some roadblocks, and also the talks to roll out Apple Pay in the UK in 2015 appear to have stalled as the banks are concerned about security issues.

SOURCE: MacRumours.com