In Australia, Apple Pay Boosts Credit Card, Deposit Account Applications

In Australia, the ANZ Banking Group found something strange happen after it started accepting Apple Pay. It experienced "a surge in applications for credit cards and deposit accounts" to such a degree that it "has forced the other major banks to re-enter negotiations" with Apple, according to a report in The Sydney Morning Herald. In other words, Australian shoppers found the idea of the NFC payment method so significant that they wanted to engage in non-Apple Pay-related banking functions.

"ANZ chief executive Shayne Elliott said at the bank's interim results last week that online credit card applications were up 20 per cent since the deal with Apple was announced on April 28," the story noted, adding that the figures "were the highest on record" and "more than double the average." Elliott was quoted as saying "that the higher level is continuing." This is consistent with much of what we've said about Apple Pay, that this huge a behavioral change needs to be a psychological shift. This will need to be a right-brain move-focused on emotions, intuition and imagination-rather than a left-brain (logic, analysis, linear) move. Bankers and payment professionals are notoriously left-brain people, while Apple is the quintessential right-brain company.