Apple know that the wallet is the key customer channel of the future

Wallets are about identity, not money, and Apple figured this out years ago.

Dateline: Woking, 24th November 2023.

Apple iOS 17.1 shows the first services for the new iPhone Wallet app powered by the U.K.’s Open Banking API. The Wallet app will now be able to show Brits their account balance (including credit cards) from supported banks (including my principal bank, Barclays) as well as their transaction history. The balances will also be shown inline when buying something with Apple Pay, helping users be more financially aware about whether they can responsibly afford the purchase. I liked 9to5.mac’s comment that “International Apple users are used to bemoaning U.S.-only features… However, Apple is launching this feature exclusively in the U.K. due to the existence of an interoperable open banking standard in the country”.

(They go on to say that "The path to getting a feature like this in other regions, like the U.S., is much less clear”, but I’m not sure I agree with that. I think the path is very clear: the regulators are going bring open banking to the USA soon!)