Apple accuses Brazilian banks of seeking a ‘free ride’ in NFC probe

Source: 9to5Mac

Apple pushes back on Brazil’s NFC pressure

Background

Last year, Brazil’s central bank (Banco Central) and banking lobby group Febraban asked CADE, the country’s competition watchdog, to investigate whether Apple was unfairly limiting third‑party payment providers’ access to the iPhone’s NFC compared to its own services.

Apple’s counterarguments

Apple sent CADE a list of counterarguments, including:

• Apple holds just 10 % of Brazil’s smartphone market.
• Third‑party developers have had access to the iPhone’s NFC since 2024.
• The Brazilian marketplace is “well‑served with payment options,” so Apple Pay is not causing damage to consumers nor excluding competitors.
• There is nothing in Brazilian law that prevents Apple from charging a fee for its services (as reported by Tecnoblog).

PIX and the contactless protocol

Apple’s “well‑served with payment options” comment refers to PIX, a local, free, instant payment system launched in 2020 that is by far the country’s most used payment method.

• In 2023, Banco Central rolled out a contactless protocol for PIX.
• Apple (unlike Google) has refused to adopt this protocol, deeming it a non‑essential feature for Brazilians, who still rely heavily on PIX payments via QR codes rather than the newer contactless method.

Recent statement to CADE

A few days ago Apple sent CADE another statement, further reaffirming its stance.

As reported by O Globo, the company’s local legal team argued that “there is a desire by third parties — specifically banks and payment service providers — to act as ‘free riders’ on Apple’s proprietary technologies, without having to compensate Apple for its related investments in research and development and for ongoing services — such as provider audits, due diligence, and continuous monitoring of the security of payment infrastructures.”

The statement also added:

“(…) these companies are interested in promoting an NFC access model that, unlike Apple Pay and Apple Wallet, introduces friction that may limit users’ willingness to easily switch between different payment cards, by requiring them to select a new payment solution each time they want to use a different card.”

Meeting with Banco Central

Apple’s statement came almost exactly one month after some of the company’s representatives met with Banco Central’s director of regulation, Gilneu Francisco Astolfi Vivan. The meeting was closed to the press, and no details were disclosed beyond the fact that it would cover “regulatory issues,” according to Vivan’s official schedule for January 15.