European digital banking platform CaixaBank consolidates its position in mobile banking and partners with Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) to enhance customer experience.
CaixaBank closed the first months of the year with 4.4 million customers with cards linked to mobile devices, figures that are “on the rise,” with over 800 million transactions in the past year.
With this, the bank reinforces its position as a benchmark in payment methods in Spain and reaffirms forecasts that point to the “growth of mobile phones as means of payment among users.”
According to data from CaixaBank cards towards the end of the first half of 2024, more than 30% of in-person purchases “made in Spain with CaixaBank cards were made using mobile phones.”
Consistent with this, and as another demonstration of the banking institution’s commitment to enhancing the customer experience, CaixaBank, through CaixaBank Payments & Consumer, has signed an agreement with Apple.
As a result of this partnership, CaixaBank customers with iOS 18 and iPadOS18 will soon have the option to “pay in full or spread the cost over multiple months directly at the point of purchase when paying with their CaixaBank cards in Apple Pay.”
Customers that decide to choose this option will have the choice to do so when shopping online “using Apple Pay and in-app on iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch.”
This functionality will allow customers to see payment options available to them, understand cost including any “interest, and choose how they’d like to pay before completing their purchase.”
This payment splitting option offers even more “flexibility” in online purchases for CaixaBank customers who have a MyCard or another CaixaBank credit card linked to Apple Pay.
CaixaBank customers can access this method of paying in instalments through their credit cards when “making a purchase with an iPhone or iPad, and they can choose between several instalments to split their purchase.”
CaixaBank is the first company in mainland Europe that has entered into this partnership with Apple to offer this new service; it now forms “part of a larger group of partnerships between the technology giant and other international financial institutions.”
This partnership is said to be an example of CaixaBank’s commitment to innovation and engaging with its customers.
The firmviews this collab with Apple as a key opportunity to work on the gradual “improvement of its services.”
By speeding up the purchase process and providing the option to divide or split up payments into instalments, shoppers can take advantage of a faster user experience.
CaixaBank has taken part in projects that are considered to be at the forefront payment services on a global scale: it was a supporter of contactless cards, innovated with the creation of the first wearables that could be “used to make payments and was the first bank in Spain to commit to NFC mobile payments.”
The firm provides a range of payment management services.
CaixaBank also reportedly enables payments to be made from all kinds of mobile environments: iPhone, Samsung and even Garmin and Fitbit watches.
It has also reportedly become the “first” Spanish bank to be compatible with SwatchPAY!, allowing payments using Swatch’s analogue watches.
CaixaBank Payments & Consumer, a wholly-owned subsidiary of CaixaBank, is the financial group’s entity foucused on consumer financing as well as payment methods.
The firm is focused on card payments in Spain, with a total of 31.2 million units sold and a “31% share” in invoicing purchases. In Spain, it manages an outstanding credit of more than €12.3 billion.
CaixaBank Payments & Consumer comprises 16 different companies related to consumer spending and payment, which are “wholly-owned” subsidiaries or co-owned with strategic partners, with the goal of expanding CaixaBank’s capabilities.