The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is seeking public comment on Apple’s recently announced rules governing how financial companies and app developers offer tap-to-pay functionality on its devices.
“The CFPB is working to better understand further details about Apple’s announcement to determine whether it is a meaningful shift away from blocking competitive payments offerings from banks, credit unions and technology companies other than Apple,” CFPB Director Rohit Chopra wrote in a Wednesday (Aug. 28) blog post. “We encourage developers and others with a stake in Apple’s regulations on contactless payments to contact the CFPB’s Office of Competition and Innovation.”
Apple did not immediately reply to PYMNTS’ request for comment.
Chopra wrote in the post that the Department of Justice sued Apple in March, focusing in part on the company’s “restrictive regulations” on tap-to-pay services. He added that the CFPB has heard from other countries’ regulators and central banks that are concerned about those regulations.
On Aug. 14, Apple announced that it would change its regulations to allow developers to build apps to facilitate payments, including its tap-to-pay feature, outside of Apple Pay and Apple Wallet.
“Developers will need to pay fees to Apple and agree to other conditions,” Chopra wrote in his blog post. “The announcement did not detail those fees or conditions.”
These are the regulations the CFPB aims to further understand by gathering public comment, according to the post.
“This October, the CFPB will be finalizing rules to accelerate the shift to ‘open banking’ in the U.S., which would enable consumers to switch to competitors with better rates and superior service, while still safeguarding their personal financial data,” Chopra wrote in the post. “Ensuring that there is a competitive ecosystem for consumer payments will be critical.”
When announcing the change in its rules on Aug. 14, Apple said it was giving developers access to its near-field communication (NFC) technology and enabling them to offer NFC contactless transactions from within their own apps on iPhone, starting with iOS 18.1.
“Using the new NFC and SE (Secure Element) APIs, developers will be able to offer in-app contactless transactions for in-store payments, car keys, closed-loop transit, corporate badges, student IDs, home keys, hotel keys, merchant loyalty and rewards cards, and event tickets, with government IDs to be supported in the future,” Apple said.
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