European Union wins open access to Apple Pay from Apple

In May 2022 Payments Cards & Mobile reported that The European Commission had accused Apple of abusing its market position for contactless payments via its digital wallet app Apple Pay.

European Union wins open access to Apple Pay

Now it has announced that Apple has offered to let rivals access its mobile payments systems, in a move that could settle the EU antitrust charges and avoid a hefty fine.

The European Commission is likely to seek feedback next month from rivals and customers before deciding whether to accept Apple’s offer.

Apple Pay is used by more than 2,500 banks in Europe and over 250 fintechs and challenger banks.

Companies risk fines up to 10% of their global annual turnover if found guilty of breaching EU antitrust rules.

In similar news, Apple, Visa and Mastercard have been hit with another, new proposed class action that accuses them of conspiring to thwart competition for POS payment card network services, causing merchants to pay artificially higher fees for credit and debit transactions.

In a complaint filed, beverage retailer Mirage Wine & Spirits said Apple struck unlawful agreements with Visa and Mastercard to refrain from competing with the two credit card companies.

Visa and Mastercard in exchange paid Apple a portion of transaction fees for purchases made on their networks by consumers using Apple’s Mobile Wallet service, according to the lawsuit.

The complaint said Visa and Mastercard had paid Apple what amounted to a “very large and ongoing cash bribe” of hundreds of millions of dollars a year.