Mobile payment takes a new step in France with the integration of the CB (Bank Cards) network into Apple Pay. La Banque Postale is getting the ball rolling by now allowing its customers to carry out their transactions via the national network rather than systematically using Visa or Mastercard, and other banks will soon follow. A development which goes in the direction of greater French digital and banking sovereignty.
Gradual deployment until 2025
Mobile payment is experiencing spectacular growth in France, with the use of electronic wallets almost doubling, from 4.6% in 2022 to 8.2% in 2023. In this context, the integration of the CB network into Apple Pay represents a major strategic advance. The national network, which already dominates the market with more than 65% of current payments, is now targeting 16 billion transactions by 2026. La Banque Postale, as a French public bank, is leading the way by gradually deploying this functionality to of its customers since December 2024.
The implementation of this new functionality follows a well-defined schedule. A conclusive test phase has been carried out since October with around forty La Banque Postale employees. General deployment began in December 2024 and will extend until the first quarter of 2025. iPhone, iPad, iMac or Apple Watch users will see their Apple Pay application automatically evolve to incorporate this new option. This initiative could encourage other banking establishments to follow the same path, thus strengthening the French mobile payment ecosystem. For consumers, this change offers more flexibility, allowing them to choose between the CB network and international networks for their daily transactions, although it does not change anything in use.
If traditional banks will follow in the coming months, this is probably not the case for neobanks and online banks (Boursobank, Nickel, etc.). The latter do not generally use the CB network, they will remain on Visa and Mastercard.
