Although it is easy to be distracted by shiny objects such as the new Apple Card, the biggest news in payments last week was a sober announcement from the US Federal Reserve. It wants to shake things up by building its own rapid payments service, rivalling large banks including JPMorgan Chase.
As ever with Apple, its laser-etched titanium card is beautifully packaged, and promises to change the world. This “new kind of credit card” is arriving at the first users’ homes to link with iPhones and give 2 per cent cashback on each purchase for which they tap.
The Apple Card trumpets its superior “simplicity, transparency and privacy” to familiar high-end cards such as Chase’s Sapphire Reserve, which offer a complex set of travel and retail rewards for a high fee. The iPhone app lists things users have bought and shows the double-digit interest clearly.