Apple recently partnered up with eight more banks to boost Apple Pay’s customer base. The list of financial institutions include Security Service Federal Credit Union, Partners Federal Credit Union, Virginia Credit Union, Consumers Credit Union, Cyprus Federal Credit Union, Mountain America Credit Union, Customers Credit Union, and Fairwinds Credit Union.
Apple Pay’s increase in banking partnerships
Apple’s new partnerships could bring in as many as 2 million more customers to the new service. Many credit unions have been reluctant to join the payment service, and they account for about half of all financial institutions.
Apple Pay first launched late last year and partnered up with a limited number of banks. It has since expanded to a larger number of banks and now credit unions. Apple hopes to change the way people use their cards and pave the way to widespread use of mobile transaction technologies. A recent report from BI Intelligence offered an explanation as to how little U.S.-based retailers account for the majority of $4.7 trillion in aggregate payment volume even though most of them have already developed the technologies necessary for accepting mobile payments such as Apple Pay. All it takes is a handful of major retailers to create an explosion in mobile payment services.
A boost in mobile payment services
What’s more is that Apple Pay is showing strong signs of success. Payments made via Apple Pay accounted for 0.1% to 1.6% of transactions at the top five retailers during the month following the launch of the feature. The fact that Apple Pay is limited to new devices shows the impact the new service has made in such a short time.
Android, Apple’s main rival, is also benefiting from the service. It was confirmed by multiple sources that Google Wallet enjoyed a boost after the launch of Apple’s payment service. Softcard is another mobile payment service which struck a nice number of deals with retailers as a result.
