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Apple Pay is being rolled out today in Hong Kong to American Express, Visa and MasterCard cardholders, almost two years since the mobile payment service was introduced in the United States.
Participating banks in the city include Standard Chartered, DBS, Hang Seng Bank, HSBC, Bank of East Asia and BOC Credit Card, a subsidiary of Bank of China (Hong Kong).
Apple uses so-called near-field communications technology built into its iPhones and Apple Watch to allow for contactless payment in stores, which have contactless point-of-sale terminals supporting the mobile payment system.
The service can also be used to pay for purchases made within mobile apps on the iPhone and iPad.
Apple announced last month that global payment technology giants Visa and MasterCard would join American Express in supporting the much-anticipated rollout of Apple Pay service in Hong Kong this summer.
“American Express was the first card issuer to bring Apple Pay to card members in the Asia-Pacific region when it was launched in Australia in 2015,” said Susanna Lee, American Express vice-president and general manager for card services in Hong Kong and Taiwan.
“Contactless technology makes life easier and faster for both consumers and businesses,” she said.
American Express, Visa and MasterCard users in Hong Kong can load their eligible cards into the Apple Pay feature on their device.
According to Apple, card numbers are not stored on the device nor on the company’s servers. Instead, a unique device account number is assigned, encrypted and securely stored in the Secure Element feature on the device being used.
Each transaction is authorised with a one-time unique dynamic security code.
The introduction of Apple Pay in Hong Kong is expected to give a much-needed boost to the adoption of mobile phone payment systems in the city.
Greg Hingston, the head of retail banking and wealth management in Hong Kong at HSBC, said the number of active mobile banking customers “has increased almost 50 per cent over the past three years” at HSBC.
“We expect this to rise as customers continue to migrate to digital banking and as we roll out innovative offerings such as Apple Pay,” Hingston said. “Digital is an integral part of our strategy as technology and mobility are changing the way our customers access information, products and services.”
Hong Kong remains behind other markets, especially mainland China, in adopting mobile payment services.
Consumers in the city are used to more familiar payment options, such as Octopus cards. Plenty of merchants are also wary of making new investments in contactless, point-of-sale readers.
Apple Pay, which was launched in October 2014, is also available in Canada, Britain, Switzerland, China, Singapore and Australia.
(SCMP)
