Australian Government to regulate Apple, Google, and WeChat digital wallets

The Australian Government has announced considering new laws that would tighten the regulation of digital payment services by tech giants such as Apple and Alphabet’s Google.

Services such as Apple Pay, Google Pay and China’s WeChat Pay are not currently designated as payment systems, putting them outside the regulatory system. The Australian report recommended the government be given the power to designate tech companies as payment providers, clarifying the regulatory status of digital wallets.

The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) earlier in September called for global financial watchdogs to urgently get to grips with the growing influence of ‘Big Tech’, and the huge amounts of data controlled by groups such as Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Alibaba.

It also recommended the government and industry together establish a strategic plan for the wider payments ecosystem and that a single, integrated licensing framework for payment systems be developed.