Australia to reclassify and strictly regulate Apple Pay

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According to Reuters Australia is now considering creating new laws that would more heavily regulate digital payment systems such as Apple Pay, Google Pay, and WeChat Pay. Over the past 5 years this style of payment has become more prevalent in Australia, and the Australian government is fearing that they might lose a grip on these systems if they don't implement proper regulation.

Reuters says that the Australian government is wanting to designate tech companies as payment systems so that they can be brought into the regulatory environment, as of now companies like Apple and Google and not part of the financial regulatory system.

Australian treasurer Josh Frydenberg says he would “carefully consider” tighter regulations on digital payment services.

“Ultimately, if we do nothing to reform the current framework, it will be silicon valley alone that alone determines the future of our payment systems. A critical piece of our economic infrastructure.”

Australian banks such as the Reserve Bank of Australia and the Commonwealth Bank of Australia have previously raised concerns around digital wallets with "competition issues" and purported safety implications. Around the beginning of 2021 the Australian Parliamentary Committee almost considered forcing Apple to open up the iPhone's NFC chip to support third-party payment systems in an effort to promote competition.

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Published to Apple Scoop on 30th August, 2021.