HSBC share price: Bank misses UK launch of Apple’s mobile payment service

HSBC Holding Plc (LON:HSBA) has missed today’s UK launch of Apple Pay, despite expectations that it will be among the first to offer the system in the country. The bank has revealed that Apple Inc’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) mobile payment service will not be available to HSBC customers at launch and added that it is planning to start offering the service by the end of July.

HSBC, which has some 16 million customers in the UK, was announced as a launch partner in June and, according to the BBC, was listed as a participant until as late as Monday. Despite that the bank denied that its decision not to participate in the launch was last minute, claiming that it had not planned to take part.
The BBC quoted a spokesperson for the bank, as saying: “We are now working hard to bring this to our customers by the end of July.”
HSBC is not the only bank that is missing the launch;Bank of Scotland, Halifax, Lloyds, TSB and M&S Bank will all launch the service in the autumn, while Barclays said it would be offering the service in the future. Meanwhile,Royal Bank of Scotland, Santander, NatWest, Nationwide and Ulster Bank are all offering the service from today.
In today’s trading, HSBC shares were down 0.4 percent at 572.70p, as of 11:31 BST. The stock has fallen 5.9 percent since the start of the year and the company’s market capitalisation currently stands at just over £110 billion.
As of July 10, 2015, the consensus forecast amongst 29 polled investment analysts covering HSBC had it that investors should hold their position in the company. This consensus estimate has been maintained since November 26, 2014, when the sentiment of investment analysts deteriorated from “outperform”.
As of 13:22 BST, Tuesday, 14 July, HSBC Holdings plc share price is 574.55p.