In brief
- A parliamentary inquiry will be held on Tuesday and Wednesday to hear practices of credit card companies and digital payment systems
- Banks and fintech lobby groups have long complained that Apple exclusively control the mobile payment market on its iOS system.
The government is facing renewed pressure to disrupt Apple's 'monopoly' on digital payments within iPhones, as a parliamentary inquiry into Australia's payment ecosystem is held on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Digital payment and mobile wallets are largely replacing cash and physical cards, with a report by the Australian Banking Association in July last year revealing that over four billion mobile wallet transactions were made in 2024, over 11 times the number of ATM cash withdrawals.
But banks and financial services have long been complaining they face more regulatory scrutiny than international technology companies such as Apple.
The inquiry, announced last December, is set to hear about the practices of credit card companies and digital wallet schemes in Australia, as well as interchange fees charged by credit cards and the Buy Now Pay Later initiative.
In a submission, the Australian Finance Industry Association (AFIA) argued that Apple had played the role of a gatekeeper to contactless payments, and its policy had prevented Australian banks, fintechs and other payment providers from launching a fully featured digital wallet service on its iOS system.
Last September, parliament passed the amendment to Australia's payment system law, expanding the Reserve Bank's power to regulate digital wallets launched by the tech platforms.
However, the AFIA argued the amendment didn't address the ongoing barrier for banks and fintechs to fully launch their digital wallet services on Apple, as the Silicon Valley giant still owns the exclusive access to iPhone's Near Field Communication chip, which is the key infrastructure for mobile wallets.
"If left unchanged, it is likely to entrench monopoly-like market positions that demonstrate very little value to Australians," the AFIA said in its submission.
Simon Birmingham, chief executive at the Australian Banking Association, also accused big tech platforms of enjoying the benefits of banks' investment in payment infrastructure, without paying for it.
"Australian banks and other domestic players have done the heavy lifting to fund and build some of the safest and most advanced payments infrastructure in the world," he said in the submission.
"It's critical we preserve the ability of domestic players to continue to invest in our payments system — or we risk enabling an inevitable offshoring of these capabilities."
In its previous submissions to a 2023 inquiry on digital payment systems, Apple said it "does not itself provide financial or payment services in Australia."
"In its simplest form, Apple Wallet is a digital reproduction of a physical wallet – and no more a 'payment system' or 'participant' than an actual physical wallet would be – however made more efficient, seamless and secure," the company argued.
In its opening statement on Tuesday, the Reserve Bank said it will conduct a consultation in mid-2026 to discuss issues that should be prioritised when it executes its expanded power in regulating the payment ecosystem.
"The committee's inquiry is a timely opportunity to consider the role that these entities, and domestic and international card schemes, play in the Australian payments system," Reserve Bank's Head of Payments Policy Ellis Connolly said.
Alongside banking and financial representatives, Apple, credit card giants Visa, Mastercard and American Express are also set to appear at the inquiry.
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