Apple Pay is slowly expanding its access to more and more countries. On Tuesday, July 19, was the turn of France, the land of good wine, boutiques, and croissants.

Later the same day, Apple’s mobile payment service was also rolled out in Hong Kong. According to the French website for Apple Pay now shows the service is compatible with Mastercard and Visa debit and credit cards issued by Ticket Restaurant and Carrefour Banque.

At the same time, users can also pay with Apple’s service through Caisse d’Epargne and Banque Populaire, which includes the country’s second-largest banking group (accounting for over 20 percent of current payment cards).

The website also listed Boon and Orange, two other issuers of French credit cards, as “coming soon” to Apple Pay.

On the other side of the world, Apple Pay for Hong Kong has partnered so far with Visa, American Express, and Mastercard credit cards from banks Bank of China (Hong Kong), HSBC, DBS, Hang Seng, and Standard Chartered. HKT and the Bank of East Asia will soon be made available, as well.

Making Apple Pay available in France and Hong Kong represents the second and third new regions that the service has expanded to this month only. Switzerland was the first to get Apple’s mobile payment service in early July.

In the United States, Apple Pay is one of the most well-established services among banks and retailers, as all four major US credit cards support it. But that’s not enough for Apple, which wants to achieve a greater presence abroad in light of rival services – like Samsung Pay and Android Pay – gaining traction.

Several French retailers have already jumped on the Apple Pay bandwagon. As per the official web page of the service, Apple Pay is supported by the Apple Store itself, Sephora, Bocage, Eram, Cojean, and Total, to name some on the list.

Users in France will also soon be allowed to add loyalty cards to the Apple Wallet app and then make purchases with Apple Pay by tapping into the loyalty points they accumulate.

Prior to this latest expansion, the service was already available in the US, Canada, UK, Australia, Singapore, and China.
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