UK bank Barclays is the only major holdout from the launch of Apple Pay in the UK. From next month, users with iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus or Apple Watch in the United Kingdom will be able to use the NFC mobile payments chip inside their iPhone to use Apple Pay.
Apple announced yesterday a whole swathe of partners, including Santander, HSBC and Lloyds. The notable omission from the ‘big four’ British banks is Barclays. Barclays’ Twitter support has come under fire in the aftermath from customers and has issued the following statement, which shows that all hope is not lost for Apple Pay for iPhone users who bank with Barclays.
Thanks for your tweets this evening. We can assure you that we’ve been talking with Apple about how our customers could use Apple Pay in addition to our existing mobile and payment services, and that these talks remain constructive.
Although there is no firm confirmation or details, Barclays is effectively saying that negotiations and talks are still in progress. On a purely speculative basis, it is likely that Barclays will announce support soon as overall support for Apple Pay from partners in the UK is strong.
Apple Pay in the UK will launch with over 250,000 merchants — which is more than what Apple had signed for the original launch of the mobile payments in the US. With iOS 9, Apple Pay will become integrated into the new Wallet app.
[tweet http://twitter.com/thomasjhpowell/status/608201537584820225]
[tweet https://twitter.com/billgajen/status/608198825744818176]
[tweet http://twitter.com/flukey_70/status/608171039588249600]
In case you are as angry as the Twitter feedback, here is the list of following banks are confirmed to launch with Apple Pay in July:
- American Express
- First Direct
- HSBC
- Nationwide
- NatWest
- Royal Bank of Scotland
- Santander
- Ulster Bank
The following have announced they will support Apple Pay, but are ‘coming soon’ which likely means they will miss the July launch date. At the keynote, Apple says the following banks will be onboard by the fall.
- Bank of Scotland
- Halifax
- Lloyds Bank
- M&S Bank
- mbna
- TSB
Expect more banks, retail stores and merchant partners to be announced in the coming weeks and months.
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My only question about Pay is how it works with your loyalty card.
ie, I go into Subway and have my subway card in Passbook, and Pay set up. Does it ask me to scan my loyalty card before asking bp paid ?
No, it will automatically choose the right loyalty card. No need to present it. According to the keynote you’ll never miss any loyalty points anymore.
I am one of Barclays customer, everyone is going nuts about this, especially because Barclays is one of the biggest one down here. I will consider moving if they don’t sort this out.
Same here!
I have expected the WWDC 2015 to announce Apple Pay coming to UK, but as soon as i saw there was no Barclays logo on that supporter list, i felt to change bank almost immediately, and then i saw the three words “Talk Remain Constructive”, clearly Barclays PLC. don’t want to back out, so i have moved my bank to else where already, i don’t think Barclays is going to support Apple Pay anytime soon as Barclays is doing everything it can to push out its new bPay hardware and systems, and new bPay wristband, sticker, key fob are given to those who have trailed for free by 14th of July, and then it will be on for sale in public.
Barclays is just disappointing people, changing bank is the best option
Barclays are such an old conservative bank, they will hate how Apple are revolutionising payments. I changed my bank from Barclays years ago. I can see a wave of Apple users switching this week. It takes a couple of weeks to transfer, just in time for Apple Pay!
Barclays has PingIt and a whole heap of mobile apps. The cashiers at their branches will soon be digitalised too.
In a tangentially related comment*, Barclays is also the bank that came under intense pressure from the Anti-Apartheid movement for its support of the South African Apartheid regime. It was belligerent in its continuing support for Botha, but eventually had to cave.
It’ll probably be the same with Apple Pay.
*See how I linked politics with technology…. pointless I know, but a bit of trivia that many American readers might not have known, when they buy their tickets at the Barclays Center in Booklyn to watch the Nets.
Co-op Bank (the one-time ethical bank that is now owned by US hedge funds!) not in either list. Doesn’t surprise me given that their website is stuck in the twentieth century. Just as well I have an Amex card to play with :-) Looking forward to not getting my Oyster card out on the tube and just using my Apple Watch to get through the gates instead. Now that is a killer app, believe me.
Sounds odd; considering that Barclay cards are currently supported in the US ApplePay ecosystem. I’ve had my Barclays US Airlines (Now American Airlines Red Card) on Apple Pay for over 6 months. My guess is that they are still negotiating final terms, or possibly they need additional infrastructure upgrades, prior to bringing the service online in the UK. Barclays is a relatively small player in the US market. I’m guessing that they have greater dominance on their home turf. They probably want to make certain that they have everything nailed down tight on their UK based data processing, prior to going live. It’s better to have customers upset by a small delay in availability, than having hoards furious over processing errors on a system that isn’t ready to go live. Per my recollection; it took several months after the release of Apple Pay in the UD; before Barclays made their cards available on it.
It might have nothing to do with platform but rather money and/or ownership of data.
Sounds odd; considering that Barclay cards are currently supported in the US ApplePay ecosystem. I’ve had my Barclays US Airlines (Now American Airlines Red Card) on Apple Pay for over 6 months. My guess is that they are still negotiating final terms, or possibly they need additional infrastructure upgrades, prior to bringing the service online in the UK. Barclays is a relatively small player in the US market. I’m guessing that they have greater dominance on their home turf. They probably want to make certain that they have everything nailed down tight on their UK based data processing, prior to going live. It’s better to have customers upset by a small delay in availability, than having hoards furious over processing errors on a system that isn’t ready to go live. Per my recollection; it took several months after the release of Apple Pay in the US before Barclays made their cards available on it.
Considering switching banks? May I suggest the fine crooks at HSBC? One of the best and most elegant drug laundering business currently in operation.
Heh!!
good choice, i have already switched to HSBC
Just as a side note. I can’t currently add credit/debit cards to my iPhone 5s but have Apple Watch. Does this mean I’ll have to wait for iOS 9 to update to wallet or will Apple be updating the Passbook app in a pre iOS 9 update to allow me to add cards to it? I’ll be severely disappointed if July comes and I can’t use it until the Autumn.
Apple Pay for UK will be supported by iOS 8.4 which will release the 30th June. So no. You can pay with your Apple Watch using your 5S.
Is that definitely the next release date?
UK Question here. So with Royal Bank of Scotland supporting Apple Pay and Ulster Bank being a Northern Ireland bank. Apple Pay should be supported in Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Is that assumption correct, Oh and Isle of Man.
But not Ireland itself. So Belfast yes but not Dublin. For now.
It is funny that BarclayCard US supports Apple Pay (Apple Rewards even) and is one card with some of my largest Apple Pay purchases. But Barclay UK not one of the initial members.
As far as I’m aware you can use it anywhere contactless payment works, anywhere in the world. So long as your card issuer/bank support it it should work. Folk from the US can use Apple Pay anywhere in the world where NFC payments work once set up with a supported card.
odd because i was in barclays Monday and their was iPad air 2s everywhere! you’d think if their using so many products they’d be happy to accept pay
one problem is that Barclays is considering to take over the mobile payment method in the UK, they think they are big enough with Pingit and the new bPay payment system so Barclays UK is hardly going to accept Apple Pay
Barclaycard US supports Apple Pay and so I think this is a matter of time only.
BBC saying apple pay will have £20 limit in UK (raising to £30 in September ?)
I can understand this for contactless cards – if I lost my card absence of any signature or PIN ID check would make it very vulnerable. But obviously iPhone has security if I lose it, arguably more security than my chip and pin card, which has no limit.
Hope they can sort this out.
If you read the detail you’ll see that this isn’t a limitation of banks or Apple Pay but merely the result of old fashioned terminals that don’t have the technology enabled to support the Apple Pay transaction. Essentially UK Apple Pay is just contactless as we know it today.
UK’s current RFID and NFC reader are optimised for adapting the contactless card which has a payment limit of 20GBP, if merchants are going to upgrade their terminal like the one displayed in Apple WWDC keynote introduction video. it is likely to accept any payment above 20GBP probably will be able to reach over 30GBP as well