Commonwealth Bank of Australia is adding support for Android Pay and NFC payments through Garmin smartwatches, but iPhone users will continue to have to make do with contactless stickers.
The bank says that it will allow customers to make payments of up to $100 through Android Pay before the end of the year, offering customers an alternative to its own tap and pay service. In addition, support is being added to Garmin smartwatches, which will go on sale in Australia next month.
Michael Baumann, GM, everyday banking and payments, CBA, says: "In June this year we saw weekly transactions across the CommBank app hit $6.1 billion so we know customers love using their phones to make payments and do their banking.
"Since 2013 our customers have been able to use their smartphones to make payments. By offering customers the ability to pay with Android Pay and with their Garmin smartwatches we are combining choice and convenience."
However, CBA is showing no signs of adding support for Apple Pay, highlighting its offer of PayTag stickers for iOS devices.
The bank, along with Westpac, NAB, and Bendigo and Adelaide Bank, recently lost a long-running battle with Apple over access to the NFC controller in iPhones, which would have let it offer contactless payments on the devices in the same way it does with Android phones.
Whether there is any great consumer demand for such a feature is debatable. Westpac has now killed off its Tap & Pay service, citing the popularity of Android Pay and Samsung Pay.