Australia's Commonwealth Bank Now Supports Apple Pay

Commonwealth Bank (CBA) today implemented support for Apple Pay, making it the second of Australia's "Big Four" banks to offer the payments service. CBA is the biggest retail bank in Australia and was a notable ‌Apple Pay‌ holdout.

Multiple MacRumors readers in Australia have reported being able to add their Commonwealth Bank cards to ‌Apple Pay‌, and Commonwealth Bank is listed as a partner on Apple's Apple Pay site in Australia.

commonwealth bank apple pay
Commonwealth Bank first announced plans to support ‌Apple Pay‌ last month, giving in to consumer demand after a years-long dispute with Apple over fees and access to the NFC chips in iPhones.

When announcing ‌Apple Pay‌ support, Commonwealth Bank Group Executive of Retail Banking services Angus Sullivan said that the bank had heard many requests from customers asking for ‌Apple Pay‌, leading to its implementation.

"We are committed to making changes that benefit our customers and simplify our business. We will continue to look for more opportunities to innovate and listen, to ensure our customers get the best experience when they bank with us. Responding to customer demand for Apple Pay underscores our commitment to becoming a better, simpler bank.

Commonwealth Bank, along with NAB and Westpac, tried to collectively bargain with Apple to attempt to force Apple to open up the iPhone's NFC capabilities to support other digital wallets, like those offered by the banks themselves.

Apple said that this would be harmful to consumers and would stifle innovation, a position that Australian regulators agreed with when denying the banks authorization for collective bargaining.


ANZ was the only one of the four major banks in Australia to support ‌Apple Pay‌ when it launched in the country in April 2016. Other smaller banks later implemented support, but Commonwealth, NAB, and Westpac continued to hold out amid negotiations.

It's not clear if NAB and Westpac will implement support now that Commonwealth Bank has done so.

Bankwest in Australia is also now supporting ‌Apple Pay‌, along with ASB Bank Limited in New Zealand and Bank of America Merrill Lynch in Canada. Multiple smaller banks in the U.S. have implemented ‌Apple Pay‌ support as well, with a full list available on Apple's website.

Related Roundup: Apple Pay

Popular Stories

AirPods Pro Firmware Feature

Apple Releases New Firmware for AirPods Pro 2, AirPods Pro 3, and AirPods 4

Thursday November 13, 2025 11:35 am PST by
Apple today released new firmware designed for the AirPods Pro 3, the AirPods 4, and the prior-generation AirPods Pro 2. The AirPods Pro 3 firmware is 8B25, while the AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods 4 firmware is 8B21, all up from the prior 8A358 firmware released in October. There's no word on what's include in the updated firmware, but the AirPods Pro 2, AirPods 4 with ANC, and AirPods Pro 3...
iOS 26

iOS 26.2 Available Next Month With These 8 New Features

Tuesday November 11, 2025 9:48 am PST by
Apple released the first iOS 26.2 beta last week. The upcoming update includes a handful of new features and changes on the iPhone, including a new Liquid Glass slider for the Lock Screen's clock, offline lyrics in Apple Music, and more. In a recent press release, Apple confirmed that iOS 26.2 will be released to all users in December, but it did not provide a specific release date....
CarPlay Pinned Messages

iOS 26.2 Adds New CarPlay Setting

Thursday November 13, 2025 6:48 am PST by
iOS 26 extended pinned conversations in the Messages app to CarPlay, for quick access to your most frequent chats. However, some drivers may prefer the classic view with a list of individual conversations only, and Apple now lets users choose. Apple released the second beta of iOS 26.2 this week, and it introduces a new CarPlay setting for turning off pinned conversations in the Messages...
homepod mini thumb feature

New HomePod Mini, Apple TV, and AirTag Were Expected This Year — Where Are They?

Wednesday November 12, 2025 11:42 am PST by
While it was rumored that Apple planned to release new versions of the HomePod mini, Apple TV, and AirTag this year, it is no longer clear if that will still happen. Back in January, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said Apple planned to release new HomePod mini and Apple TV models "toward the end of the year," while he at one point expected a new AirTag to launch "around the middle of 2025." Yet,...
ios 26 digital id passport wallet

Apple Announces Launch of U.S. Passport Feature in iPhone's Wallet App

Wednesday November 12, 2025 9:15 am PST by
Apple today announced that iPhone users can now create a Digital ID in the Apple Wallet app based on information from their U.S. passport. To create and present a Digital ID based on a U.S. passport, you need: An iPhone 11 or later running iOS 26.1 or later, or an Apple Watch Series 6 or later running watchOS 26.1 or later Face ID or Touch ID and Bluetooth turned on An Apple Account ...
Tesla Charging

Tesla Working to Add Apple CarPlay Support to Vehicles

Thursday November 13, 2025 8:31 am PST by
Tesla is working to add support for Apple CarPlay in its vehicles, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports. Tesla vehicles rely on its own infotainment software system, which integrates vehicle functions, navigation, music, web browsing, and more. The automaker has been an outlier in foregoing support for Apple CarPlay, which has otherwise become an industry standard feature, allowing users to...
m1 chip slide

Five Years of Apple Silicon: M1 to M5 Performance Comparison

Monday November 10, 2025 1:08 pm PST by
Today marks the fifth anniversary of the Apple silicon chip that replaced Intel chips in Apple's Mac lineup. The first Apple silicon chip, the M1, was unveiled on November 10, 2020. The M1 debuted in the MacBook Air, Mac mini, and 13-inch MacBook Pro. The M1 chip was impressive when it launched, featuring the "world's fastest CPU core" and industry-leading performance per watt, and it's only ...
iOS 26

Everything New in iOS 26.2 Beta 2

Wednesday November 12, 2025 3:29 pm PST by
Apple today provided developers with the second beta of iOS 26.2, which adds a few new features worth knowing about. Measure App Apple's Measure app now features a Liquid Glass design for the level, with two Liquid Glass bubbles instead of white circles. Games App There's now an option to sort games in the Games app Library by size, in addition to Name and Recent. CarPlay The...
apple intelligence erroneous support list

Apple Intelligence Apparently Too Smart for M1 Macs After Listing Error

Wednesday November 12, 2025 2:49 am PST by
Update: It took a day, but Apple has now corrected its Apple Intelligence device compatibility list to show support for the earliest Apple silicon Macs. The original article follows. Apple's website is causing some confusion among Mac owners, and for good reason – its device compatibility listing for Apple Intelligence appears to have dropped support for M1 Macs. The U.S. version...
iphone pocket%402x

Apple Debuts iPhone Pocket, a Limited Edition iPod Sock-Style Accessory

Tuesday November 11, 2025 1:23 am PST by
Apple has teamed up with Japanese fashion house ISSEY MIYAKE to launch iPhone Pocket, a 3D-knitted limited edition accessory designed to carry an iPhone, AirPods, and other everyday items. The accessory is like a stretchy pocket, not unlike an iPod Sock, but elongated to form a strap made of a ribbed, elastic textile that fully encloses an iPhone yet allows you to glimpse the display...

Top Rated Comments

domneedscoffee Avatar
89 months ago
Can't believe it's nearly 3 years already since I moved to ANZ...
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
desmond2046 Avatar
89 months ago
Ironically, Apple Pay is much more widely supported in Australia than in the US, especially for small businesses, because most of the POS machines in Australia already support tap-and-pay.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
JoshBoy Avatar
89 months ago
Westpac have lost 30% of their market cap over the last two years and is being investigated by the government for bad practice. Nope, I don’t think they are that great
All banks in Australia have lost market cap mainly due to regulation and capital requirements. They still are a dividend play like always, not a growth play.

Westpac still is the second largest by market cap in the country.

To lastly state they are getting investigated for bad practices is fake news. There is a royal commission taking place and from my view Westpac have come through far better than any of the other majors and the only major to retain their wealth arm of the big four.
[doublepost=1548207713][/doublepost]
Get real
You're seriously trying to compare the Australia, with a population of what, 25 million to the US's 325 million?
You could dump the entire population of Australia into four or five mid western states and you be hard press to find your cousin.

If Australia was state, it wouldn't even be the largest state by population, California has more people.

There is no irony here.

Only a much larger economy with a scale you failed to take into account.

Here is some background into US challenges:

UK’s Lessons For US Mobile Payments Adoption ('https://www.pymnts.com/nfc/2016/uk-lessons-for-us-mobile-payments-adoption/')
Here's an excerpt:

NOW FOR THE “BUT”

OK, you say, so all we need to do now is hustle up and get contactless POS terminals out there in massive force.

If it were only that easy.

In the U.S., there simply aren’t the same dynamics in play.

Two million contactless terminals today sounds like a great start — until you do the math. There are something like 13 million POS terminals across a massive geography that is the United States, not including mPOS devices.

The U.S. is also a market in which there are 1.2 billion payments cards in circulation, more than 47 billion debit card transactions, more than 26 billion credit card transactions and 209 million adults over the age of 18.

Oh, and something like 14k financial institutions that issue those cards and countless merchant acquirers and ISOs all hawking merchants to deploy new terminals.

It’s a whole lot harder to wrangle this ecosystem to the ground given the diversity of merchants and the engrained plastic card habits honed by consumers over the last 50 or so years.
I do love how much room we have to swing a cat (the one size is basically the same as the entire US) oh and we tend not to shoot each other too much.

Attachment Image
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Glasgowuk Avatar
89 months ago
Judging by their share price, they haven't missed you, Lol
[doublepost=1548199349][/doublepost]

"Incredibly stupid"? Have you seen their net worth!! You would dream to be that "incredibly stupid"!
Westpac have lost 30% of their market cap over the last two years and is being investigated by the government for bad practice. Nope, I don’t think they are that great
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Juiceboy Avatar
89 months ago
Australia had tap and go for years. It's incredible popular here. Most people don't even carry cash ever.
Vending machines, sushi joints everywhere accept contactless payments so apple pay is available everywhere. It's baffling that places like "wall-mart" or what ever the american stores are called don't accept apple pay for some observed reason.

What ever retailer has a POS terminal from the last 10 years that accept contactless, accepts apple pay by default.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
JoshBoy Avatar
89 months ago
Swing cats? Nice deflection, however irrelevant.
Incidentally, plenty of room in the US to swing cats if that's your thing.
By the way nice pic, which is also irrelevant.

Another deflection.
You're on a roll.
Point did not pass me by, I just cringe when I read statements from Americans that feel they are the biggest and best in the world. Whilst we may only have circa $25m I say quality over quantity.

The other persons post you were attacking was just making the point that as a nation we have adopted to tech in this space far better than other locations. The same thing happened where we moved to 3G phones back in about 2000/2001 when the US were still trying to adopt Edge.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)