There will be a place for MasterCard-issuing credit unions in Apple Pay.
That was the optimistic message delivered in a CU Times interview by MasterCard's Les Matthews, a product sales executive with the company.
He added that there will be a certification process – managed by Apple and with the details presently unknown – for credit unions to complete if they that want to get involved in Apple Pay.
Matthews also stressed that MasterCard was not involved in selecting the starter set of large financial institutions named in the Apple Pay launch. That call, he indicated, was entirely Apple's.
The $60 billion Navy Federal Credit Union in Vienna, Va., was named among the early entrants. However, because no other credit unions were named to roll out Apple Pay, some executives expressed concern.
Nonetheless, stressed Matthews, "there's no panic necessary. If you are a MasterCard partner we will support you, primarily through your processor."
"We are fielding calls feverishly," from MasterCard issuers, he noted. "Our independent bank and credit union segment is hugely important to us. We have been planning outreach to them for some time."
In that vein, MasterCard has been holding webinars on Apple Pay for issuers and will keep up its educational efforts, Matthews said.
Apple Pay will be just one of multiple mobile wallet providers that MasterCard will support, he added.
"We will be selective," he said, but he acknowledged that an entire segment of the mobile universe, including Android users who presently outnumber iPhone users, are left out of Apple Pay.
Melanie Gluck, another executive with MasterCard, said, "Issuers will decide which wallets they want to support. Meaning, MasterCard will build interfaces but the choice of what to offer members will be at the discretion of each credit union.
She said Apple's entry into mobile payments may be the nudge the slow-starting platform needs to take off.
"The perception is that when Apple moves, it will happen," Gluck said.
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