The Banking & Payments Show Recap: Apple Pay's Sweet Domination

On this week's episode of "Behind The Numbers: The Banking & Payments Show", Rob Rubin chats with Principal Analyst David Morris to discuss Apple's dominance in the digital wallet arena. Listen to the full Behind The Numbers: The Banking & Payments Show episode here.

In the "Headlines" segment, Rob and David discuss Kroger's apparent about face on enabling customers to use Apple Pay. Kroger, the fifth-largest retailer in the US, had their ambitions with a digital wallet, but has finally pulled the plug, capitulating on consumer pressure to have Apple Pay at the point of sale.

With Kroger caving to accept Apple Pay, Rob and David discussed Walmart and if/when they will fall. One large difference between the two retailers is that Walmart has made its ambitions in financial services clear for a long time. They stood as the original player in alternative financial services and still have a large footprint. Apart from its history, Walmart has ramped up its own Fintech operations which include neobanking aspirations and Walmart Pay.

The EU is probing into whether Apple Pay is anti-competitive, and Rob and David discussed how this new pressure could slow down Apple Pay and how it will play out for Google Pay and PayPal.

However, Gen Z is a big reason why Rob and David see Apple Pay's domination continue to grow – by 2026, 97% of Gen Zer's will have smartphones and a whopping 80% will be iPhones.

Want to learn more about the domination of Apple Pay and Gen Z's impact? Listen to the full Behind The Numbers: The Banking & Payments Show episode here.