Bank of America says 1.1 million credit cards have been activated via Apple Pay
Earlier today, Bank of America disclosed that they've had nearly 800,000 customers activate upwards of 1.1 million credit cards via Apple Pay. Though a small drop in the bucket relative to Bank of America's 60 million customer base, it's a promising sign that Apple's mobile payment platform is growing slowly but surely.
The number of mobile banking customers increased 15 percent from the year-ago quarter to 16.5 million users, and 12 percent of deposit transactions by customers were done through mobile, compared to 9 percent in the year-ago quarter. Since the introduction of Apple Pay in October, nearly 800,000 customers have enrolled in the service, adding approximately 1.1 million cards.
While a more telling metric would detail what type of transaction volume Bank of America is seeing with Apple Pay, the 1.1 million figure is certainly a good start. While Apple Pay currently works with the top banks in the country, not to mention a slew of regional banks as well, Bank of America has been actively promoting the payment platform as part of a huge advertising push which includes national TV spots. Further, the splash screens on many Bank of America ATMs feature Apple Pay ads.
Currently, official Apple Pay support remains a U.S.-only service, but as we've indicated previously, job listings from Apple point to the service expanding overseas sooner rather than later. Specifically, a job listing posted last month relays that Apple is looking to get an Apple Pay team up and running in London with the company ultimately aiming to expand the service into Europe, India, Africa, and the Middle East.
Since Apple Pay went live last October, the service has reportedly been doing quite well. Recall that Apple Pay transactions at Whole Foods during the month of November accounted for nearly 1% of all purchases made.
