Apple Pay could launch in 2015 — if worried banks don’t stop phone-based payment service

Banks are worried about the amount of data Apple can see and whether it could lead to a financial invasion by Apple

Apple CEO Tim Cook speaks about Apple Pay during the iPhone launch in California. (Getty)

Britain’s banks are in talks to bring Apple’s payment service to the UK, but are worried about the amount of data that the firm will be able to access.

The technology uses a chip in the iPhone 6, and eventually the Apple Watch, to allow for contactless purchases at shops. It makes use of data from banks to facilitate the transactions, and so Apple must negotiate the terms of the agreements to let them launch the technology.

But those discussions have run into problems because the banks are wrangling over the terms of the deal, such as how much data Apple can access, according to The Telegraph.

At least one bank is uncomfortable about the amount of data that Apple will be able to see about its customers, sources told The Telegraph. Some executives are worried that if Apple gets hold of that data the technology company could launch an assault on the banking industry.

But most banks won’t want to miss out on the launch — which is likely to mark the first major implementation of near-field communication technology for payments in the UK. While companies such as Google and PayPal have tried to launch similar schemes, few have taken off — but early data from the US seems to suggest that Apple Pay is doing well among shoppers there.

Apple signed up almost all of the US’s biggest banks for the launch there. That includes some of the UK’s biggest firms, too — such as Barclaycard and American Express.

The technology was announced at the launch of the iPhone 6 in September. It launched in America soon after that, but the company has said since it was launched that it would not be available in the UK until 2015.