Apple Pay adds Visa, MasterCard and five major banks in Singapore

Consumers in Singapore can now add their MasterCard and Visa cards to Apple Pay, after the mobile payment service launched there in April 2016 with support from American Express alone. Five of the country’s major banks — POSB, DBS, OCBC, Standard Chartered and UOB — have also gone live with support for Apple Pay.

Apple PayTogether, the five banks account for “more than 80% of the Visa and MasterCard credit and debit cards issued in Singapore,” according to The Straits Times.

“Apple users in Singapore can now use their iPhone SE, iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus and Apple Watch to make purchases in stores equipped with contactless readers with just a tap of their iPhone and a thumbprint or passcode for verification, or by simply holding their Apple Watch to the card reader,” MasterCard says. “Within mobile apps, payments can be made on iPhone SE, iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPad Air 2, iPad Mini 3, iPad Mini 4 and iPad Pro.

“Recent figures from MasterCard indicate that consumers in Singapore are supportive of the idea of adopting contactless payments. Consumers in Singapore are among Asia’s top three adopters of digital wallets and interest has been climbing steadily with one in four likely to use a digital wallet compared to just one in 20 three years ago.”

Consumer readiness

“The biggest change we’ve seen in the payments space recently is the transformation of every electronic device into a shopping device, from mobile phones to watches,” says Deborah Heng, group head and general manager of MasterCard Singapore.

“The readiness of Singapore’s consumers to embrace mobile payments, coupled with the rapid uptake of mobile payments, is quickly changing the dynamics of shopping and transacting online. With Apple Pay, MasterCard cardholders will have the flexibility and assurance to make secure digital payments wherever and whenever they want.”

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