ING Belgium today announced support for Apple Pay, offering the bank's customers another way to pay using contactless without needing their physical debit card to hand.
The 1.4 million customers who do their banking via the ING Banking app will now be able to use their ING cards with Apple Pay to make payments even more easily, said the bank in a press release.
"We're constantly looking for new ways to help our customers manage their money even easier, and Apple Pay is a great fit," said Amaury Vanthournout, Director of Payments at ING Belgium. "We've seen a major behavioral shift among our customers as a result of the pandemic, many of whom have become hesitant to use cash. Half of all payments are now contactless, a steep rise from 13% a year ago. By introducing Apple Pay in the ING Banking app, we are seizing the momentum by offering our customers a new payment method that offers incredible ease of use in shops, online and on the go."
ING said it had recorded 51.5 million contactless payments during the first five months of 2021, compared to 21.5 million over the same period last year. The contactless payments are said to have accounted for half of all in-store debit card payments and had an average amount of €19.
With support for Apple Pay now live, ING customers will have the added benefit of paying for things using their iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Mac, without having to enter their PIN, even for amounts over 50 euros.
ING already offers Apple Pay in the Netherlands, France, Italy, Spain, Romania, Poland, Australia and Germany. Apple Pay launched in Belgium in November 2018. The digital payment method first launched in the United States in October 2014 and has since expanded to many other countries around the globe.
