Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac
Visa reportedly wants to take over Mastercard’s partnership on the Apple Card. The company has allegedly offered Apple $100 million to make it happen.
Apple ended its partnership with Goldman Sachs over the Apple Card. It currently seeks a new banking partner and card issuer.
Apple Card may switch to a new payment network
A Wall Street Journal report claims that both Visa and American Express are battling to become the issuing network for Apple Card. Visa has offered Apple an upfront payment of $100 million for this. This move is typically “reserved for the biggest card programs,” says the report.
American Express wants full control over the Apple Card, becoming the issuer and network. This will allow it to handle the banking part as well. Mastercard isn’t giving up, though, “fiercely trying to keep its role as the network.”
As of now, Apple has yet to finalize on a banking partner. Before that, it must decide whether to stay with Mastercard as the payment network or switch to Visa.
Goldman Sachs wants to end its Apple Card partnership
Apple partnered with Goldman Sachs in 2019 and Mastercard to launch Apple Card. It stood out for its consumer-friendly features like unlimited Daily Cash back with every purchase, no annual fees and a physical titanium card. No wonder Apple Card quickly became a hit.
Behind the scenes, Goldman Sachs handled the banking part of the Apple Card. However, the partnership has caused the bank to incur billions of dollars in losses. It even wanted to change how Apple Card bills customers, which Apple denied.
Due to these disagreements, reports surfaced in November 2023 that Apple would end its Apple Card partnership with Goldman Sachs. Since then, the company has sought a new banking partner, with Barclays and Synchrony Financial being the foremost runners.
Despite launching in 2019, Apple Card remains limited to the US. Perhaps a new banking partner could help Apple expand the card’s availability to other markets worldwide.
