PayPal and Square Could Gain as EU Mulls iPhone Payments Rules

PayPal  (PYPL) – Get Report and Square  (SQ) – Get Report could be among the winners as the EU’s antitrust regulator mulls rules that could end Apple Pay’s monopoly on iPhone tap-to-pay services.

Following reports to the effect, the European Commission says it’s thinking about enacting rules that would give payment services a right of access to “infrastructure” such as the NFC chips placed within smartphones. These chips enable tap-to-pay services such as Apple Pay and Google Pay (formerly known as Android Pay).

The announcement arrives three months after the EC said it’s probing Apple’s  (AAPL) – Get Report App Store and Apple Pay policies.

In the case of Apple Pay, the EC said in June that it was concerned about Apple Pay being the only tap-to-pay solution allowed on iOS and iPadOS devices. The agency also said it was probing alleged restrictions on access to Apple Pay by rival products running on Apple devices and (without expanding) how Apple’s terms and conditions for supporting Apple Pay on websites and apps “may distort competition and reduce choice and innovation.”

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