Apple may face a battle with Australia’s Reserve Bank over who gets to control access to a major gateway of the payments system, reports The Australian.
The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) is Australia’s central bank and banknote issuing authority. It has had this role since 14 January 1960, when the Reserve Bank Act 1959 removed the central banking functions from the Commonwealth Bank
The Australian says Apple is deciding whether it argue its its case in the central bank’s efforts to crack down on card surcharging. The tech giant argues that it’s not part of the payments system.
In July The RBA last month outlined plans to crack down on the $1.2 billion Australians pay in credit and debit card surcharges every year. The central bank is seeking submissions to its planned overhaul until the end of this month.
The Australian notes that Apple Pay “might sit on top and technically outside the payments system” but “still has significant clout. Apple charges banks large fees for the right to have their cards sit in the digital wallet.” While Apple doesn’t directly charge fees to consumers, the fees it charges banks are passed along the payments chain and ultimately trickle down to consumers.
The RBA expects that Apple Pay will be part of its surcharging crackdown from mid-next year. The Australians says that the central bank’s view is it will be up to the banks or merchants to absorb the cost of the Apple Pay transaction “but this doesn’t solve the problem of who gets access or put pressure on Apple to lower its own fees.”
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