NFC Times Exclusive – While Apple is believed to have offered Chinese financial institutions a price break on the cut of transaction fees it demands for participating in Apple Pay, the tech giant doesn’t appear to have extended the same offer to banks in some other countries.
Banking sources in Canada and Australia told NFC Times that Apple has not come down significantly in the size of the cut of transaction fees it is asking for. That is despite months of resistance by major banks in these two contactless card payment hotspots.
In Canada, a banking source said Apple’s asking price is still not much lower than what it is collecting in the U.S. from issuers participating in Apple Pay, which is 15 basis points or .15% on the amount of credit card transactions, and half a U.S. cent on debit card transactions. Interchange, however, is generally lower in Canada than in the U.S.