Britain’s largest high street banks are launching digital payment services in an attempt to retain customers and fend off growing competition from the technology giant Apple.
Barclays has signed a deal with the digital payments service Zapp, enabling customers to make online transactions through the “pay by bank” application on mobile devices.
The tie-up comes a week before the launch of Apple Pay in the UK, threatening to disrupt banks by allowing people to use their credit or debit cards via their phone, rather than having to dip into their account.
The Financial Times reports that Barclays has cooked up a deal with mobile payments service Zapp, as it attempts to hold the gate against Apple Pay.
Apple Pay, the launch of which was announced early this summer and which is due to appear next week, has been advertised by Barack Obama. Apple has stated it is happy to receive a mere 0.15 per cent processing fee as it still gets to be “at the centre of payments”.
Barclays is the only large high street bank which will definitely be shunning Apple Pay in the UK. The bank is attempting to maintain its own Pingit payments application. The pink sheet also notes that “HSBC, First Direct, Nationwide, Santander and Metro Bank have signed up to provide digital payments through Zapp”.
“Sainsbury, Asda, House of Fraser, Thomas Cook and Shop Direct are among a number of large British retail brands that have signed up to Zapp”, it adds, as customers increasingly emigrate towards neatly-trackable mobile payments.
Credit card providers seem to be feeling the competition as well, as Visa recently launched its own digital wallet to stay ahead of the pack in the digital payments industry. Their wallet V.me can allow clients to make online purchases without having to input their credit card details every time.
More people are turning to mobile, which has overtaken branches and the internet as the most popular way to bank. Figures from the consultancy firm Caci show that customers look set to check their current accounts on mobile devices more than 895 million times this year, exceeding the 705 million branch interactions.
