Apple Pay expands in Australia to 31 small banks

Apple has signed a deal with payment solutions provider Cuscal to bring the tech giant's Apple Pay service to 31 smaller banks and financial institutions.

Cuscal will "soon" enable Apple Pay for the likes of Teachers Mutual Bank, My State, Credit Union Australia, Defence Bank, and Australian Unity, among others. The full list of participating banks can be found here.

It has yet to specify when the service will become available.

Cuscal said it expected more of its banking partners to join the list in the near future.

Apple said 3500 banks across 12 countries have signed up to Apple Pay since it launched last year.

The tap and go payments platform first landed in Australia for American Express users, but quickly expanded to ANZ Bank in a partnership that is yet to be repeated by any other major financial institution.

Instead, Westpac, NAB, the Commonwealth Bank, and Bendigo and Adelaide Bank are pushing the ACCC to let them band together to pressure Apple into opening up the NFC chip in its iPhones.

They also want to be able to pass on the costs of using Apple Pay to customers - something Apple currently restricts in its Apple Pay contracts.

The banks argue that Apple's refusal to open up the NFC chip for banks to run digital wallets on its phones is anti-competitive, while Apple says doing so would compromise the security of its devices.

Coles and the nation's retail lobby have lent their voices to the banks' fight.

The ACCC's ruling on the request is expected imminently.