Barclays today announced that it will support Apple Pay for debit and credit cards in the United Kingdom in the future, confirming a MacRumors report that claimed the bank expected "imminent" support of the mobile payments service.
Apple Pay officially launched in the U.K. earlier today and can be used at more than 250,000 locations across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. A full list of retail shops and apps that accept Apple Pay can be found on Apple's website.
We are really excited about the launch of Apple Pay and will bring Barclays debit cards and Barclaycard credit cards to Apple Pay in future.
— Barclays UK (@BarclaysUK) July 14, 2015
Apple has also updated its Apple Pay participating banks list in the U.K. and moved First Direct and HSBC to the "coming soon" section. First Direct has confirmed on Twitter that Apple Pay will be "available later in July," while HSBC tweeted that it will be "launching Apple Pay by the end of this month." It was expected that the banks would support Apple Pay in the U.K. at launch today.
@davidashleyrw I'm sorry you feel the need to leave Ashley. We will be launching Apple Pay by the end of this month. ^JH
— HSBC UK Help (@HSBC_UK_Help) July 14, 2015
The full list of U.K. financial institutions that currently support Apple Pay per Apple's website includes American Express, MBNA, Nationwide, NatWest, Royal Bank of Scotland, Santander and Ulster Bank. The banks listed under coming soon include Bank of Scotland, First Direct, Halifax, HSBC, Lloyds Bank, M&S Bank and TSB. As of today's announcement, Barclays should be added to that list soon as well.
The UK's competition regulator has proposed changes to make it easier and cheaper for companies to offer alternatives to Apple Pay on the iPhone (via Reuters).
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) says Apple's fees and restrictions make it too difficult for rivals to launch contactless payment apps. Its proposals would give developers more ways to access the iPhone's NFC technology,...
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Wish I wrote the headlines and articles. Maybe I should start a website.
Yours
Barclays today announced ('https://twitter.com/BarclaysUK/status/620861754424299520') that it will support Apple Pay for debit and credit cards in the United Kingdom in the future, confirming a MacRumors report that claimed the bank expected "imminent" support ('https://www.macrumors.com/2015/07/10/barclays-apple-pay-imminent/')of the mobile payments service.
Apple has also updated its Apple Pay participating banks list ('https://www.apple.com/uk/apple-pay/') in the U.K. and moved First Direct and HSBC to the "coming soon" section. First Direct has confirmed ('https://twitter.com/firstdirecthelp/status/620920370032431104') on Twitter that Apple Pay will be "available later in July," while HSBC tweeted ('https://twitter.com/HSBC_UK_Help/status/620917702442532864') that it will be "launching Apple Pay by the end of this month."
Mine
In an effort to not lose customers Barclays today scrambled following what can only be described as a major balls up. Despite having over 8 months to prepare they say it will support Apple Pay for debit and credit cards in the United Kingdom in wait for this....the future. When that is is anyone guess.
Apple has also updated its Apple Pay participating banks list ('https://www.apple.com/uk/apple-pay/') in the U.K. and moved First Direct and HSBC to the "coming soon" section after they failed to do sweet f*** all in the last 8 months. First Direct has now like barclays scrambled to not loose customers by confirm ('https://twitter.com/firstdirecthelp/status/620920370032431104')ing on Twitter that Apple Pay will be "available later in July," note no year is confirmed. Maybe its 2046? HSBC tweeted ('https://twitter.com/HSBC_UK_Help/status/620917702442532864') that it will be "launching Apple Pay by the end of this month" Atleast they gave it as this year
Lots of people crying, I mean really - just use your chip and pin card.
I tried to authorise a HSBC card to Apple pay outside Tesco's just now before lunch, it didn't work (I hadn't seen the news) so I used my chip and pin card as I do every other day. This had literally zero effect on my life. I'll get over waiting a couple of weeks before it's working...
Had a thought - for those desperately unhappy types who were eager to show off their Apple Pay to adoring crowds of cheering shoppers but unfortunately bank with one of those not supporting Apple Pay yet: Simply place your contactless debit card inside your iPhone case, wave it at the terminal and none will be any wiser.