German bank association, Sparkasse, has enabled Apple Pay on its "giro card" for people with standard bank accounts. The giro card is a debit card that's extremely popular in Germany, according to a report in the AppleInsider.

While Sparkasse has enabled ApplePay on accounts in the past, it wasn't via a typical debit card. Previously, the Sparkassen-Karte Basis card worked, but required users to preload the card with a balance, rather than taking funds directly from the user's current account, as would be expected by a regular debit card transaction.

By supporting ApplePay, consumers can now use their iPhones to pay directly with ApplePay, and skip the preloading step.