The offer has ‘expired’ on the day of the Apple Event. Could it possibly mean Apple Card in the UK is incoming this year?
Apple has ended its credit card partnership with British bank Barclays, according to Bloomberg, with the news dropping just a few hours prior to the company’s virtual “Time Flies” event today.
Apple rewards visa from Barclaycard was a US thing, so it makes sense. I touched upon it either in the Apple Card thread here on the one on fintechtalk or both.
Apple are partnered with Goldman Sachs for Apple Card. They also have a U.K. presence, and are keen to further expand here too. It would make the most sense to stick with those for the U.K. version too.
Barclays would be the next logical choice, as Apple have had a close partnership with them too over the years, and I recall there used to be an Apple rewards variant of Barclaycard in the US, that rewarded you for spending on iTunes and in Apple Stores.
https://community.fintechtalk.co.uk/t/new-applecard/1236/102?u=n26throwaway
In the U.K., Apple use Barclays partner finance for this. So it’s a loan, rather than a credit card.
I know.
It is the timing that is interesting. Barclays, a UK bank ‘expires’ the offer, but also, code relating to GDPR was found in Apple Card code in the most recent beta a few days ago. As we know, GDPR is a Europe thing, it would not be added if Apple Card was remaining a US only thing. Could Apple partner with Barclays for Apple Card in the UK perhaps.
I wonder how/who will do their financing from here onwards?
Well Barclays Partner Finance, and PayPal are both still options in the U.K. Apple Card pretty much already replaced the Barclays visa in the US. I personally don’t see much changing in that regard if it comes to the U.K., Apple Card would just be a third option. Maybe Barclays Partner finance would be phased out eventually. Don’t see PayPal going anywhere anytime soon though.