As banks battle Apple for greater access to the iPhone's hardware, new figures suggest there is a long way to go before smart phones rival credit or debit cards as a means of making tap-and-go payments.
In a potential sign banks may not be in a hurry to reach a deal with Apple, the country's biggest lender says that currently only a small number of customers use their iPhone to make tap and go payments.
![Matt Comyn, head of CBA's retail bank, said a low number of customers were frequently using their smart phones to make ...](/web/20161209011148im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/p/8/5/t/h/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gt6wce.png/1481191434289.jpg)
About 400,000 CBA customers have set up their iPhone to make payments by attaching a sticker to the back of the phone, a work-around the bank offers because it has not reached a deal with Apple.
The bank on Thursday said there were about 600,000 tap and go payments made a month on the iPhone. That is an average of 1.5 payments per month for every person who has equipped their phone with a sticker.
![The average CBA customer who has set up their iPhone to make tap and go payments has only used the service once.](/web/20161209011148im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/p/9/q/0/6/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gt6wce.png/1481191434289.jpg)
The head of CBA's flagship retail bank, Matt Comyn, conceded there had been some technical glitches with the sticker system early on, but said these had been improved.
Attaching a sticker is also a much more complex process than using Apple Pay, which uses hardware not available to banks unless they agree to Apple's terms.
But the trend also reflects the fact many customers are yet to embrace using their phone as a "digital wallet".
Mr Comyn said there were "not a lot of customers who are paying by their phone very frequently, at the moment", in part because of the ease of using a card.
"For a lot of customers, it's not a hugely inferior experience to pull out my card and go tap, versus my phone and go tap," he said at a briefing with journalists.
Even so, banks including CBA believe more and more consumers will make the switch to using smart phones as wallets. It is this belief that lies at the heart of their dispute with Apple.
CBA and rival banks National Australia Bank, Westpac and Bendigo and Adelaide Bank sought permission to break competition rules and team up in their negotiations over Apple Pay, a system that allows customers to make contactless payments using iPhones.
ANZ is the only major bank offering Apple Pay to its customers – and it says the service is proving a hit with clients and helping it sell all manner of products including home loans.
After the competition watchdog last week knocked back the banks in a draft ruling, Mr Comyn said the fight was not about interchange fees – money banks get from credit card companies, of which Apple wants a slice. He said CBA would continue making its case to the ACCC, and it would be prepared to surrender revenue in a deal with Apple.
"It's falsely attributed to being about interchange – it's not. Our customers tell us, they see the bank app and the wallet as the primary place where they would like to make payments."
Interchange fees are worth about $2 billion a year in Australia, and CBA is the country's biggest credit card issuer.