Australians can use Apple Pay so far just with either American Express or ANZ.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission today released the 21-page detailed submission which opposes a demand by a group of major banks, including Westpac, the Commonwealth Bank and National Australia Bank, that Apple be forced to agree to a list of demands.

The banks are seeking that Apple deal with them as a collective, that they be allowed to charge consumers a fee for using Apple Pay and that Apple gives the bank direct access to the Near Field Communication features of the iPhone, something the technology company refuses to do saying it would impact on the security of the system.

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Apple also rejects the banks, which it calls “among the most profitable financial institutions in the world” the right to insist customers pay a surcharge for using Apple Pay.

The submission points out that all 3000 banks around the world using Apple Pay do not hit customers with a surcharge and in Australia customers are not charged transaction fees for other mobile wallets including the applicant banks’ own mobile payment apps.

“Authorisation of a cartel among the applicant banks who control access to two-thirds of all cardholders in Australia would result in significant consumer harm and perpetuate the oligopolistic banking market conditions described recently by the Chair of the Commission,” Apple says in the submission.

“Apple has tried, and failed, to negotiate commercial terms with each of the applicant banks except one, which has not even been willing to sign a confidentiality agreement and thus has not yet been provided with a copy of Apple’s initial terms.

“This demonstrates that each individual applicant bank possesses a significant amount of bargaining power against Apple.”

The banks have argued that a group negotiation with a lobby of financial institutions including Bendigo and Adelaide Bank would benefit customers.

Apple rejects that argument, saying it has worked with 3000 individual organisations offering Apple Pay, including ANZ and American Express in Australia.

ANZ today announced it was extending its Apple Pay offer from just its Visa cards to include its 500,000 customers with a Mastercards. ANZ says 20 per cent of eligible customers have tried Apple Pay.

In the submission, Apple says “contrary to the assertions made by the banks” Apple does not restrict the banks from developing their own mobile banking solution even if they sign up for Apple Pay.

Some of the strongest arguments in the case made by Apple come in relation to its rejection of opening up its NFC technology to the banks.

“Android devices, which provide open access to their NFC radios to banks, have been shown to be susceptible to third-party attacks that can compromise the customer’s card information”, the Apple submission says.

“There have also been reports of non-NFC security issues related to Samsung Pay, which is why it is so important to Apple to maintain the tight integration of our hardware, software, and services such as in Apple Pay.”

Apple argues that if the Commission were to grant the banks request that they be allowed a three-year deal, it would stifle the growth of mobile banking in Australia.

“As each of the banks has individually resisted serious engagement with Apple for the past two years, collectively negotiating will further entrench the applicant banks’ position by ensuring that all of them can only advance in lock-step with the slowest, least willing member,” the submission says.

In summing up its opposition to the application made by the banks, Apple says if the ACCC were to agree to the banks demand it would result in “less secure mobile payments in Australia; less privacy in mobile payments in Australia; less convenience in mobile payments in Australia; higher costs of mobile payments in Australia; and significantly lower rates of innovation in mobile payments in Australia.”