Apple on Tuesday added 23 more companies to the list of U.S. banks supporting Apple Pay, simultaneously gearing up for the launch of the mobile payment service in the United Kingdom.
As has become standard, the majority of the new U.S. institutions are credit unions. An important addition is RBFCU, one of the largest credit unions in the U.S., with over 450,000 customers in central Texas including Austin and San Antonio.
The full list can be seen below:
- American Chartered Bank
- Bank-Fund Staff Federal Credit Union
- Bellco Credit Union
- EFCU Financial
- First Federal
- First National Bank
- Healthcare Systems Federal Credit Union
- Keesler Federal Credit Union
- Kemba Credit Union
- Members 1st Federal Credit Union
- NorthStar Credit Union
- Parsons Federal Credit Union
- Pinnacle Bank
- Randolph-Brooks Federal Credit Union
- Service Credit Union
- SRP Federal Credit Union
- SUMA (Yonkers) FCU
- Tampa Bay Federal Credit Union
- Tennessee Valley Federal Credit Union
- Tri County Area Federal Credit Union
- Trona Valley Federal Credit Union
- United Teletech Financial
- Winthrop Area FCU
In the U.K., a number of Santander customers have reportedly been able to register their cards for Apple Pay, according to MacRumors. Despite confirmation emails sent by the bank, support appears to have been activated prematurely, since people must temporarily set their device region to the U.S., then add a card and switch back. One person said that they were told Santander isn't ready and that people who registered early would be de-registered.
Other regional banks, such as MBNA and Nationwide, are generating error messages in iOS such as "Contact Card Issuer" and "Your Issuer Does Not Yet Offer Support."
Apple in June promised that Apple Pay would launch in the U.K. sometime this month, but without an exact date. One major bank, Barclays, could nevertheless be late to join, since it remains in negotiations.