Bankers complain that Apple has a tight grip on mobile payments

Nota Bene 20 February 2026 · 2 comments

it’s not like they [haven’t] fought to keep Canada a very heavily centralized oligopoly

The Canadian mobile wallet and payments market, valued at roughly US$1.39 billion in 2024, is projected to reach about US$20.48 billion by 2030, according to research firm MarkNtel Advisors. Bank of Canada data shows that among Canadians who pay with their phones, nearly 90 per cent use Apple Pay, Google Pay or Samsung Pay.
Around 2014, several banks, including RBC, Scotiabank and TD Bank, launched their own mobile wallets on Apple and Android devices. Almost all of these apps were ditched, with TD citing “growing popularity of other digital wallets” as a reason for the shutdown in 2022. Canadian banks got “innovated out of the space,” said Christie Christelis, president of market research company Technology Strategies International.

Source: The Logic vis Apple Stocks

NB: Having worked at a bank many years ago I would say ...

...that technology and banks make strange bedfellows. Banks are risk management machines and technology companies are risk taking machines. There are conflicting priorities and mismatched resources. Nothing much has changed in this regard for the many decades that I've observed fintech.

2 comments

FredHS · 20 February 2026, 17:24

I always wonder why incumbents fail to see what changes are about. In this case, the banks see wallets ONLY for cash and cards. Physical wallets carry access card, ID cards, cash and cards. Mobile wallets hold all that and more.

So why would banks think people want wallets that only carry payment cards?

PS: My physical wallet resides in glovebox of my car.... for years now.

farshad · 20 February 2026, 21:37

It's true sometimes incumbents don't see--or have the right instrumentation to see. But it's not the only way incumbents, even those with good management fail. Often the incumbents see but they can't act. Or the executives see it but won't be able to change the incentives for rank and file. Or they can't marry the change to their business or profit model.

Usually the disrupting entrant has an axiom in their "theory" that is antithetical to the incumbent's operating theory.

No physical cards?? Perform payments without charging a significant transaction fee?? Let people use spreadsheets without charging for the software??

FredHS · 20 February 2026, 17:24

I always wonder why incumbents fail to see what changes are about. In this case, the banks see wallets ONLY for cash and cards. Physical wallets carry access card, ID cards, cash and cards. Mobile wallets hold all that and more.
So why would banks think people want wallets that only carry payment cards?
PS: My physical wallet resides in glovebox of my car.... for years now.
farshad · 20 February 2026, 21:37

It's true sometimes incumbents don't see--or have the right instrumentation to see. But it's not the only way incumbents, even those with good management fail. Often the incumbents see but they can't act. Or the executives see it but won't be able to change the incentives for rank and file. Or they can't marry the change to their business or profit model.
Usually the disrupting entrant has an axiom in their "theory" that is antithetical to the incumbent's operating theory.
No physical cards?? Perform payments without charging a significant transaction fee?? Let people use spreadsheets without charging for the software??

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