Apple and Google need to loosen their grip over their digital payment systems and could face regulation to stop anticompetitive practices, such as self-preferencing, competition boss Gina Cass-Gottlieb has flagged.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s series of digital platform services inquiries have identified various concerns across the technology sector, including within payments.
“Along with the expansion of digital ecosystems, the competitive advantages arising from superior access to user data and a lack of transparency all create an environment where digital platforms may exercise power across multiple services,” Cass-Gottlieb told The Australian Financial Review Banking Summit on Tuesday.
The ACCC investigation into Apple Pay was launched in September 2021 and is examining the design of iPhones that restricts payment cards, including those of the banks, from making “tap and go” payments unless they are stored in Apple’s digital wallet.
“One area where Apple engages in self-preferencing and restriction of competitor access to functionality is in its reservation of tap-and-go, contactless payments using the NFC [near-field communication] chip on Apple mobile devices to its own Apple Pay app and Apple wallet,” Cass-Gottlieb said.
”The ACCC’s inquiry has also reported that Apple and Google’s respective control over the App Store and Play Store enables each of them to impose terms that prevent app developers from using alternative payment systems for in app payments.”
