Monese is special in that they are a UK service for UK customers, but they offer EUR accounts and don’t require proof of address, so it can be used elsewhere. It is the former that got them Apple Pay.
In this thread’s equivalent on the Curve forum, Curve has just published an explanation as to why Apple Pay takes a while to implement. Some of it is obvious, but it confirms what many of us already believe.
Integrating with Apple is quite a complex process as it involves BIN alignment, legal and regulatory sign off and timeline alignment. This process is required for every country, not just the UK where we are based. This requires work with third parties (not only Apple), so we cannot yet commit to a firm date but it is a very high priority for us!
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Seems like it’s harder to implement than a lot of people and maybe Revolut thought.
Some bigger expension is coming soon
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I asked a Curve a further question in response, and they have replied here in more depth, which some of you might find interesting.
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It seems that some of you were wrong that Apple prevents UK card issuers (e.g. Revolut or Curve) from providing Apple Pay to card holders in EEA countries where Apple has not yet launched Apple Pay for local card issuers. I asked:
Does Apple impede UK card issuers such as Curve from giving Apple Pay to card holders whose postal address is in an EEA country where Apple has not yet launched Apple Pay for local card issuers?
Curve replied (original here):
Apple Pay wouldn’t prevent us from allowing the functionality on this basis and this is where we are hoping to fill a gap in the market!
As soon as Curve is Apple Pay ready, customers in countries whose issuing banks do not yet support Apple Pay will be able to add their Curve card to the Apple wallet. This will allow them to spend from their personal debit/credit cards, via Curve, using Apple Pay.
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I find it a little strange though, that Curve are the only ones who gave us the process on how Apple Pay works. Other banks/fintechs failed to give us this and rather be hush.
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That’s certainly an interesting statement. But it makes you wonder why N26 did not profit from this. There’s still a workaround with Bunq, but Bunq made it really easy at first and then did introduce additional technical hurdles. Why would they have done that?
Because N26 is only supports euro currency amd there is many countries not having apple pay but not having euro too
(At the time they introduced Apple Pay, yes. But they now offer GBP accounts for U.K. customers.)
Still I think they would have wanted to offer Apple Pay for their German customers if they could have. But Germans had to wait about two years or something while French and Italian customers were able to use Apple Pay. Why would they not do it if they could have? Germany is their home country with the largest user base.
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It’s quite possible that Apple was previously fussy about card issuers providing Apple Pay to card holders with postal addresses in EEA countries where Apple Pay is not yet launched for local card issuers, but after Apple Pay starts to cover most of the EEA, Apple is becoming more flexible. This might also suggest why Revolut, and to a lesser extent Curve, are launching Apple Pay much later than they planned.
Why in the hell would Apple be so restrictive? Can’t they just launch Apple Pay for the whole EU (and the whole world, in my opinion) and then make agreements per bank? In that case, if N26/Revolut wanted to support Apple Pay theg could do it for all the countries in which they operated in.
Yes, I ask myself the same question. I conclude that the answer is because Apple treats each EU country as a separate market, contrary to the principles of the EU’s Single Market. This is evident in that Apple impedes cross-border purchases of digital content via iTunes, making it difficult for consumers to buy digital content that is marketed at a local price in a country in which the consumer’s payment card is not issued.
When Apple negotiates with banks about becoming partners for a launch in a country, there’s a commitment for an advertising budget, for example. And if you’ve given away exclusivity, it’s just harder to convince a bank that they need to spend x millions for ads when Apple Pay isn’t a novelty in that country anymore. They probably also like slow rollouts that make it easier with complex regulations.
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Apple can still use the procedures similar to e-shops, including in the sale and provision of services. These e-shops restrict sales to other EU countries than they are located (such as Amazon, Germany). They can do this until the new EU legislation comes into force. Unfortunately, this practice is still in line with EU law.
Apple pay works only as a medium for payment, the iPhone literally acts as a bank card, whilst Google Pay works as more a middleware solution, having a Generic Google Pay Virtual card in the front, by this way enabling them even to have PayPal available in the backend.
Apple, In the other hand, needs to make individual agreements with the Bank (card issuers) which includes some not that trivial technical development required to banks side, once they’re responsible to issue a secret/token generator algorithm, for every iPhone, besides the API backends for validations.
More details in this article: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2014/10/how-mobile-payments-really-work/
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This article is from 2014. I don’t think the virtual google wallet card still exists. Both platforms now work basically the same way.
Google still offers the service Google Pay Send, but that’s more comparable to Apple Pay Cash, which also relies on a virtual card living within the wallet app.
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Curve also to be fair thought because American Express had signed a merchant agreement with them for the beta, that they had the right to launch it. They’re now taking American Express to court.
Regardless American Express changed their merchant agreement to exclude e-wallets now iirc so they have no leg to stand on, legally.
I really wouldn’t trust anything from Curve.
Did someone paying you so every 2nd post is anti-Curve 
if not i really think you are waisting your energy go to yoga or something
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People who had bad experiences tend to speak out loudly…
Anyway, I don’t care about Curve, but I too wouldn’t trust such a statement. Given how Apple so far handled this (boon…) I would be very surprized if they allowed Curve to single-handedly “launch” Apple Pay in more countries. Also, why would Revolut not end this embarassing episode by just launching it if it was that easy? I think it is much more likely the social media intern got carried away.