Apple Pay Expands to Additional Banks in Germany, Austria, and the Netherlands - MacRumors
Skip to Content

Apple Pay Expands to Additional Banks in Germany, Austria, and the Netherlands

by

Apple Pay has expanded to more banks in Europe today, including ING in Germany, bunq in Austria, and ABN AMRO in the Netherlands.

apple pay ing germany
ING supporting ‌Apple Pay‌ in Germany is notable after a lengthy waiting period following the original announcement. ‌Apple Pay‌ made its debut in Germany in December, allowing iPhone and Apple Watch users in the country to take advantage of the contactless mobile payments service if their card issuer supports it.

Meanwhile, the Federation of German Cooperative banks (BVR) are said to be preparing for ‌Apple Pay‌ support, as are the Sparkassen and Giroverbandes (DSGV) association of savings banks. Both the BVR and the savings banks could start offering support later this year.

Also today, European challenger bank bunq brought ‌Apple Pay‌ to its customers in Austria. "Austrian users can now enable both Maestro and Mastercard cards for ‌Apple Pay‌, so they get the best of both worlds. This gives them the freedom to pay with their iPhone or Apple Watch, whenever they want, wherever they go," said bunq founder and CEO Ali Niknam.


Last but not least, ABN AMRO, one of the largest banks in the Netherlands, announced ‌Apple Pay‌ support in early September and now the bank's customers can finally start using Apple's payment service. Rabobank is expected to offer support in the country soon.

‌Apple Pay‌ has been gradually expanding across Europe and the Middle East, launching in Poland, Norway, Kazakhstan, Belgium, Germany, Czech Republic, Saudi Arabia, Austria, and Iceland over the last year.

Apple CEO Tim Cook said in March that ‌Apple Pay‌ would be available in more than 40 countries and regions by the end of 2019. ‌Apple Pay‌ first launched in the United States in October 2014. You can view the full list of ‌Apple Pay‌ countries and regions on Apple's website.

(Thanks, Geert!)

Related Roundup: Apple Pay
Tag: Europe
Related Forum: Apple Music, Apple Pay/Card, iCloud, Fitness+

Popular Stories

wallet app transit new york

Apple Pay for Transit Now Works in These 14 U.S. Cities

Tuesday June 9, 2026 2:07 am PDT by
Apple has expanded the number of major U.S. cities where its Apple Pay for transit feature is supported, providing a simple way for those who use public transportation to pay for rides. ‌Apple Pay‌ for transit now works in Atlanta, the Bay Area, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, Orange County, Philadelphia, Portland, San Diego, Seattle, and Washington, DC. Some...
Read Full Article • 3 comments
f1

Apple's F1 Streaming Ambitions Hit Wall as Sky Renews European Rights

Thursday May 14, 2026 4:44 am PDT by
Apple's interest in expanding its Formula 1 streaming deal for Apple TV beyond the United States may have stalled, after Sky Sports signed early renewals to retain the sport's broadcast rights across its largest European markets. Sky and F1 jointly announced on May 6 that Sky will remain F1's exclusive live broadcast partner in the UK and Ireland through the 2034 season, and in Italy through ...
Read Full Article • 69 comments
Apple Developer Center Berlin auditorium

Apple Announces Europe's First Developer Center

Wednesday June 3, 2026 5:20 am PDT by
Apple today announced it will open Europe's first Apple Developer Center in Berlin later this year. The facility joins existing Developer Centers in Bengaluru, Cupertino, Shanghai, and Singapore. Apple said the Berlin center, located in Mitte district, will offer developers throughout Europe in-person sessions, workshops, and one-on-one appointments in multiple languages, with consultation...
Read Full Article • 43 comments

Top Rated Comments

catean Avatar
catean
87 months ago
Raiffeisen Bank Romania added support too, today.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
springsup Avatar
springsup
87 months ago

According to this ('https://www.sparkasse.de/unsere-loesungen/privatkunden/bezahlverfahren/mobiles-bezahlen/faq-bezahlen-mit-dem-handy.html'), Sparkasse will initially only support credit card accounts with Apple Pay. Giro should come some time next year.
Yes, that's confirmation from an official source. Awesome!


12. Kann ich auch mit meinem iPhone mobil bezahlen?
Die Sparkassen werden Apple Pay noch in diesem Jahr in Deutschland einführen und den Kunden diese einfache, sichere und vertrauliche Zahlungsweise anbieten. Zum Start in diesem Jahr werden Kreditkarten (Mastercard, VISA) unterstützt, die girocard (Debitkarte) bereiten die Sparkassen für 2020 vor.
Comdirect do the same, and it's the only thing that bugs me about using ApplePay. I'd rather have it just replace my girocard.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
colmaclean Avatar
colmaclean
87 months ago
According to this ('https://www.sparkasse.de/unsere-loesungen/privatkunden/bezahlverfahren/mobiles-bezahlen/faq-bezahlen-mit-dem-handy.html'), Sparkasse will initially only support credit card accounts with Apple Pay. Giro should come some time next year.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
M
manu chao
87 months ago

Apple Pay made its debut ('https://www.macrumors.com/2018/12/10/apple-pay-launches-in-germany/') in Germany in December, allowing iPhone and Apple Watch users in the country to take advantage of the contactless mobile payments service if their card issuer supports it.

Meanwhile, the Federation of German Cooperative banks (BVR) are said to be preparing for Apple Pay support, as are the Sparkassen and Giroverbandes (DSGV) association of savings banks. Both the BVR and the savings banks could start offering support later this year.
BVR and DSGV account for probably at least 80% of all individual checking accounts in Germany. In terms of the total amount of money held by individuals, they account for 60 to 65%. But since they are more the little man's banks, in terms of number of customers that translates almost certainly into the 80+% figure. The larger of the two 'groups', DSGV, has about 50 million customers in Germany (in a total population of 83 million where probably not all children have their own bank account). The BVR has 18.5 million members with not all customers also being being members, these two groups thus might have easily 70 million customers (with likely very little overlap between the two).

Getting those two groups on board is the difference between not mattering much and pretty much having fully made it (in terms of being an option for the customer).
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
gnasher729 Avatar
gnasher729
87 months ago
ING in Germany is of no importance whatsoever.

The big news is BVR and DSGV preparing, because that means ApplePay is available for cards that Germans are actually using in large numbers.


Apple takes a (very?) small percentage of every transaction, so that's why some banks may be hesitant.
On the other hand, ApplePay makes insider fraud much more difficult (you buy something by card at a shop, some rogue employee copies your information, and shortly afterwards fraudulent charges start). Whatever banks are charged, I think they save a lot more because of reduced fraud.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Read All Comments