Apple Pay Pushes for Expansion, Signs on New Participating Issuers

L&N Federal Credit Union, UW Credit Union, and M&T Bank are the latest issuers to support Apple Pay.

The announcement first surfaced on Apple’s support page, where a list of participating financial institutions can be found.

Other notable establishments on the issuers list include Barclaycard, PNC Bank, and USAA. The recent update from the tech giant could not have come at a better time. Since the activation of Apple Pay in October, skeptical analysts have criticized the platform for being selective and limited.

Furthermore, Apple Pay failed to meet the company’s expectations during Black Friday, the biggest sales event of the year. Staggering statistics from InfoScout shows that 95 percent of the platform’s users did not use the service, even when most had their phone in their hand during checkout.

Dr. Thomas Rand-Nash, an active member in the payments community, said, “There is no doubt that Apple Pay is a great experience for Apple device users. However, adoption of an intangible service–like payments–always takes a long time with the public, even when the public in question–Apple device users–tend to be early adopters.”

Contrary to Apple Pay’s weak performance, many leading businesses still see hope in the payments system. In addition to adding new financial issuers, Apple is closely collaborating with various third party payments companies such as Square. Strategic partnerships can ensure the platform doesn’t get lost in the growing number of highly competitive payments providers.

2015 may prove to be a better year for Apple Pay, as the digital platform is expected to launch in selected countries worldwide, including China.

For now, Apple Pay’s updated list of issuers is assurance that the payments service will be available to more users for the holiday season.