Banks Pressuring Visa to Cut Back on Apple Pay Fees

A number of banks are currently pressuring Visa to make changes to the way it processes some payments made via Apple Pay, moves that would reduce the fees the banks pay to Apple for certain transactions, reports The Wall Street Journal.

Apple Pay Feature
At the heart of the issue are automatic recurring payments like memberships and streaming services. Visa is aiming to change the way it issues tokens for ‌Apple Pay‌ cards such that Apple would only receive a transaction fee on an initial subscription payment and not on subsequent transactions.

When Apple introduced Apple Pay in 2014, the iPhone had already clobbered music players, cameras and GPS systems. Banks and card networks worried it also would displace card payments.

Banks agreed to pay Apple 0.15% of each purchase made by their credit cardholders. (They pay a separate fee on debit-card transactions.) Those fees account for most of the revenue that Apple makes from its digital wallet, according to people familiar with the matter.

Aside from the fee arrangement, Apple garnered several other concessions from credit card issuers as it rolled out ‌Apple Pay‌, and in exchange, Apple agreed not to launch its own credit card network to go up against Visa and Mastercard.

With the launch of Apple Card in partnership with Goldman Sachs, Apple has become more of a direct competitor to other banks, and some bank executives have reportedly been angered by Apple's move and are seeking ways to reduce the payments they make to Apple.

Apple has unsurprisingly informed Visa that it objects to the proposed change that would reduce the fees it receives on recurring transactions, so it remains to be seen whether Visa will follow through on its plans, which are scheduled to go into effect next year.

Related Roundup: Apple Pay

Popular Stories

iOS 26

iOS 26.1 Coming Soon: New Features for Your iPhone and Release Date

Monday October 27, 2025 7:55 am PDT by
The upcoming iOS 26.1 update includes a handful of new features and changes for iPhones, including a toggle for changing the appearance of the Liquid Glass design, "slide to stop" for alarms in the Clock app, and more. Below, we outline key details about iOS 26.1. Release Date Given that Apple has yet to seed an iOS 26.1 Release Candidate, which is typically the final beta version, the...
iOS 26

6 New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 26.1

Wednesday October 29, 2025 4:22 am PDT by
Apple is about to drop iOS 26.1, the first major point release since iOS 26 was rolled out in September, and there are at least six notable changes and improvements to look forward to. We've rounded them up below. Apple has already provided developers and public beta testers with the release candidate version of iOS 26.1, which means Apple will likely roll out the update to all compatible...
maxresdefault

Apple TV 4K Could Still Launch Before 2025 Ends: All the Rumored Features

Monday October 27, 2025 4:51 pm PDT by
Apple is designing an updated version of the Apple TV 4K, and rumors suggest that it could come out sometime in the next couple of months. We're not expecting a major overhaul with design changes, but even a simple chip upgrade will bring major improvements to Apple's set-top box. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. We've rounded up all the latest Apple TV rumors. ...
M6 MacBook Pro Feature 1

M6 MacBook Pro: Release Date, Pricing, and What to Expect

Monday October 27, 2025 9:15 am PDT by
Apple this month refreshed the 14-inch MacBook Pro base model with its new M5 chip, and higher-end 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models with M5 Pro and M5 Max chips are expected to follow in early 2026. However, these machines will represent the final update to the current design, with Apple reportedly developing a completely new version of the MacBook Pro packed with next-generation hardware...
iOS 26

Apple Seeds iOS 26.1, iPadOS 26.1, and macOS Tahoe 26.1 Release Candidates

Tuesday October 28, 2025 1:07 pm PDT by
Apple today provided developers and public beta testers with the release candidate versions of upcoming iOS 26.1, iPadOS 26.1, macOS Tahoe 26.1, tvOS 26.1, watchOS 26.1, and visionOS 26.1 updates for testing purposes. The RCs betas come a week after Apple released the fourth betas. The new betas can be downloaded from the Settings app on a compatible device by going to General > Software...
iOS 26 Battery Glass Feature

iOS 26.1 Beta Liquid Glass Battery Drain Test: Tinted vs Clear Mode

Friday October 24, 2025 2:30 pm PDT by
In the fourth iOS 26.1 beta, Apple added a "Tinted" option that reduces the translucency of Liquid Glass for those who prefer a more opaque look. I saw some comments wondering whether the setting might preserve battery life, so I thought I'd do some testing. Test Settings I did four separate tests using the iPhone 17 Pro Max, and I kept the parameters as similar as possible. Here are the...
ios 26 digital id passport wallet

Apple Says U.S. Passport Feature on iPhone is Coming Soon

Monday October 27, 2025 7:41 am PDT by
You will "soon" be able to add a digital version of your U.S. passport to your iPhone, according to Jennifer Bailey, vice president of Apple Pay and Apple Wallet. Bailey reiterated that the feature is coming soon during her keynote at the Money20/20 USA conference in Las Vegas on Sunday. On its iOS 26 page, Apple says the delayed feature will be "coming later this year." Apple's...
macos tahoe

Here Are Apple's Release Notes for macOS Tahoe 26.1

Tuesday October 28, 2025 1:21 pm PDT by
Apple today provided developers and public beta testers with the release candidate version of macOS Tahoe 26.1, which means the update will likely see a public launch next week. The release candidate includes notes on what's in the update, so we have a full picture of the new features that Apple has included. macOS Tahoe 26.1 adds AutoMix support over AirPlay, improved FaceTime audio...
All Screen iPhone 2027 Feature 1

iPhone XX? 6 Features Rumored for Apple's 20th Anniversary iPhone

Monday October 27, 2025 4:01 pm PDT by
For the 10th anniversary iPhone that came out in 2017, Apple introduced the iPhone X with Face ID, notch, and minimized bezels, providing more display space than ever before. The 20th iPhone anniversary is approaching and Apple wants to take the iPhone X design even further. We're two years away from the 2027 iPhone, but it's tough for Apple to keep major changes under wraps. We've rounded...

Top Rated Comments

brianjlambert Avatar
53 months ago
Yet, the banks get the benefit of a secure transaction that’s verified biometrically. They’d rather take a loss on used stolen cards than give anyone else a fraction of a percent more to have a secure payment.
Score: 26 Votes (Like | Disagree)
dguisinger Avatar
53 months ago
I'm honestly tired of everyone taking cuts on the flowing of money - someone always has to pay for it in the end.

If only we all had cash in the bank and could ACH it for FREE. But no, as soon as its a credit card, someone has to pay for the transactions. Visa and MasterCard don't do anything other than pass transaction numbers around, yet make 3%. Apple's 0.15% seems more reasonable, though they too are only passing numbers back and forth to facilitate a transaction they had nothing to do with.
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
mookc1 Avatar
53 months ago
Visa should thank Apple for further securing transactions.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
mannyvel Avatar
53 months ago
The benefit of Apple Pay is the risk of fraud is substantially less. The same can be said with the Apple Card. That alone is worth the .15%.

It's interesting that Visa is saying they're getting squeezed by other card issuers. That sounds like a money grab by Visa, since other issuers will also have the same change applied to them.

And in any case the change makes no sense. A transaction is a transaction. Whether it's a subscription or not makes no difference.

Edit: one other interesting thing is that the article talks about banks. Really, they should be called "card issuers", who are not necessarily banks. Or is the article saying that bank-based issuers pay the fees and the non-bank ones do not?
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
TheYayAreaLiving ?️ Avatar
53 months ago
The banks have enough money. Come on now. They make enough profit on interests alone.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
R3k Avatar
53 months ago
Screw the banks, they've had their chance to move things forward, innovate, compete and they just tried to keep things stuck.

It took Apple and a pandemic for wireless payments to become a common thing in the city I live.

Also, I just spent 9 months working in Europe. Before I would need to pay everything in cash, losing $10 for the withdrawal otherwise I would have to pay with credit card which brought a $5+ fee for every transaction.

With Apple Pay- 0 fees, and the waiter just comes to the table with a handheld scanner, I point my phone, all done, 2% cash back.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)