Apple Pay Canada Launch Targeted For Fall 2015

In a few short months, Apple Pay may very well start singing “O Canada.” Following the launch of Apple Inc.’s mobile payment system in the U.S., the company plans to deploy it north of the border, with a little help from Canada’s banks, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The company is currently in talks with six of Canada’s largest banks, including the Royal Bank of Canada, Toronto-Dominion Bank, Bank of Nova Scotia, Bank of Montreal, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce and the National Bank of Canada. Those banks hold 90 percent of Canada’s consumer accounts. If talks go through, Apple Pay could launch as early as November, enabling Canadian credit and debit cards to be used with Apple’s iPhone and Apple Watch for wireless mobile payments, sources told the Journal.

But the banks aren’t necessarily in agreement with Apple’s proposed fees. While the Canadian terms have not been revealed, Apple currently takes 15 cents of every $100 spent through Apple Pay in the U.S., according to the Financial Times. The banks have also expressed concerns about fraud conducted through Apple Pay, through which scammers using stolen credit cards and social engineering have added cards to the service without the need for further verification.

Canada is a big candidate for an Apple Pay expansion considering 75 percent of its merchants support contactless payments, reports Venturebeat. Apple is also eyeing an expansion into China and the U.K. But it has reportedly run into similar roadblocks with Chinese banks over a proposed 2 percent merchant fee, according to Caixin Online.