News
UK competition watchdog consults on opening iPhone contactless access to rival wallets
The CMA wants to open Apple's NFC chip to other UK wallets. In the EU, rivals launched within months of Apple opening up. In the UK, there are none.
The UK's Competition and Markets Authority wants to open up the NFC chip in the iPhone, the technology behind tap-to-pay, travel cards and digital IDs. It's now consulting on how. UK businesses have told the regulator that Apple's current fees and terms for NFC access may simply not be commercially viable.
The numbers explain why the CMA cares. Contactless is now 39% of UK payments, up from 3% a decade ago, and more than 60% of adults use a digital wallet. Yet no rival wallet has launched in the UK. In the EU, Vipps, PayPal, Klarna, Curve and BBVA all launched alternatives within six months of Apple opening NFC access there.
Why it matters: If this goes through, a UK bank could finally ship its own tap-to-pay wallet on the iPhone, as BBVA did in the EU. That means a buying decision on tokenisation and issuing it hasn't had to make before.
Sources: Open Banking Expo
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