TD Ameritrade, which provides investing services and education to clients, has announced what it says is an industry first: the ability for individual investors to instantly fund a brokerage account with Apple Pay through Apple Business Chat in the Messages app on iPhone and iPad. Sunayna Tuteja, head of strategic partnerships and emerging technologies at TD Ameritrade says that, historically, to fund brokerage accounts, investors have had to endure a multi-day waiting period while funds were verified or manage a complicated wire transfer.
TD Ameritrade is the first U.S.-based financial services firm to offer instantaneous funding for brokerage accounts through Apple Pay with just a touch using Touch ID or a double-click of the side button and glance at your iPhone X or later to authenticate with Face ID.
Using a debit card, customers can deposit up to $10,000 per day through Apple Pay using Apple Business Chat (depending on their bank’s limits). TD Ameritrade has been using Apple Business Chat as a messaging channel since 2018 and chose to add funding with Apple Pay because 75% of TD Ameritrade customers are iOS users.
With this initial launch, users can initiate the deposit with Apple Business Chat in the Messages app on their iPhone or iPad. To start an Apple Business Chat, customers can click the ‘Chat with Messages’ button on the “Contact Us”section of the TD Ameritrade website and TD Ameritrade Mobile App, or search for TD Ameritrade on iPhone or iPad in Maps, Safari or with Siri, then tap the Messages icon that appears next to the TD Ameritrade search result. The company plans to extend the use of Apple Pay to its website and mobile apps in the near future, according to Tuteja.
Apple Business Chat offers a way for users to communicate directly with businesses right within Messages. According to Apple, with Business Chat, it’s easy to have a conversation with a service representative, schedule an appointment or make purchases using Apple Pay in the Messages app. Business Chat doesn’t share the user’s contact information with businesses and gives users the ability to stop chatting at any time.
