One of the major changes brought about by the pandemic has been that contactless payment has become possible almost overnight in almost all shops.
Not only has it become possible to “hedge”, but at the same time support for mobile payments has come.
Of particular significance has been the fact that grocery stores have opened up to using mobile payments, something they were reluctant to do before the pandemic.
Coupled with the fact that the driver’s license went digital, there was no longer a need to carry anything but a mobile phone with you.
Since the iPhone is very strong on the mobile side in Norway, Apple Pay in particular has been a driving factor.
Switch banks or get additional credit cards
But major Norwegian banks have been very reluctant to open the service. If you have a card from, among others, DNB and Sparebank 1, it is not possible to link it to Apple’s payment solution.
– At least four of my friends and I set up credit cards elsewhere to get access to Apple Pay, an informed reader tells Nettavisen.
This market has become so attractive that there has recently been active marketing by some banks that support the service.
– Coming to us to use Apple Pay
Danske Bank communications director Øystein Schmidt tells Nettavisen that this has become a competitive advantage for them:
– Our experience in recent months, even after dialogue with many of our customers, is that interest in Apple Pay is very high and that this service is particularly popular among those who have a customer relationship with us.
– Beyond that, there’s also reason to believe that a good number of customers have turned to us to enter into a bank card deal just to be able to use Apple Pay, says Schmidt.
Santander also had a good effect from the service:
– When we launched Apple Pay in Norway in summer 2018, we were the first in Norway. In that situation, Apple Pay was probably one of the reasons customers chose our cards, says Santander communications director Eskil Pedersen.
– Of those who have activated Apple Pay, about one in three use the service every month. These customers also frequently use the service. We interpret this as the appreciated service. Not only is Apple Pay simple and seamless, there are almost no cases of fraud related to Apple Pay, he points out.
DNB wants customers to use their service
When asked by Nettavisen when the bank will open the service, the company refers to an issue they wrote about on their own websites in October. Here they emphasize again that they will not offer Apple Pay, even though “many of our customers want DNB to offer the payment service”.
– Therefore, we fully understand that the decision not to offer Apple Pay could be unpopular, said Benjamin Golding, executive vice president of products and innovation at DNB.
DNB is unhappy about not having access to iPhone features for their payment services, which basically means Vipps.
Over time, we believe this can help prevent innovation, create fewer options, and provide less convenient payment solutions for all parties, Golding says.
Lack of access is why you cannot use Vipps to pay at terminals in the same way as Apple Pay. This is also something The EU criticized.
Golding says he “hopes that current and future customers understand that today’s challenges outweigh the benefits when it comes to American payment service.”
Sparebank 1: – Regrettable if customers choose us
Even Sparebank 1, which is the second largest owner of Vipps, has no immediate plans to roll out Apple Pay:
– SpareBank 1 has its own decision-making processes around the launch of payment solutions, without a heavy dependence on what our competitors offer, although it is regrettable if customers choose us because we do not offer Apple Pay. We work every day to enable our customers to have the best and frictionless customer experience possible. No one should need to switch banks to have a good checkout experience, communications manager Tone Mesna tells Nettavisen.
– All payment solutions have their advantages and disadvantages, which must be carefully considered, including Apple Pay. And while we don’t offer Apple Pay today, it’s part of an area we’re constantly developing and evaluating, he says.
