Apple Pay’s Canada Debut Day Support

Apple Pay made its debut into Canada for American Express cardholders yesterday (Nov. 17), and it also gained the support from one payment technology services company.

Global Payments announced its support for the mobile payment service, which means Global Payments’ suite of payment solutions is now equipped for Apple Pay acceptance. Global Payments’ merchant base can also offer their customers Apple Pay as a payment option in-store and in-app.

“Following successful enablement in the U.S. and the U.K., Global Payments is pleased to be one of the first providers in Canada to offer merchants the exciting opportunity to accept Apple Pay,” said Frank Young, SVP of Global Product and Innovation for Global Payments. “Our continued commitment to leading payments technology allows us to be at the forefront in delivering this innovative payments solution to our merchants.”

Touting Apple Pay’s security and privacy, Global Payments’ news release about the subject highlighted the mobile payments’ “highly secure fingerprint authentication technology” and the encryption security that’s provided through the Apple device that keeps the card data off Apple’s servers.

The news broke Monday (Nov. 16) that Apple Pay would officially launch for American Express cardholders (issued by American Express and not by banks), though the news has been a subject of speculation for months. Last month, the news surfaced after one of their Canadian partners accidentally jumped the gun and offered the world a peek at what their Apple Pay integration will be like in the northland.

What’s been holding Apple Pay back in Canada is the same issue it’s been having in other regions of the world: Banks aren’t necessarily on board with Apple Pay because of the fees associated with transactions. Negotiations have reportedly been going on since. Plus, there’s not necessarily a lot of financial perks motivating them to support the service.

In fact, a report published over the summer from investment bank Cormark Securities suggests that Apple Pay won’t play a role in giving Canadian banks a revenue boost. Meny Grauman, an analyst with Cormark, said Apple Pay will likely only have an “immaterial” impact on earnings.