Crikey reported last month on three of Australia’s biggest banks asking the ACCC if they can team up to negotiate against tech giant Apple to use the payments technology embedded in iPhones. It’s not fair, they whined, that Apple won’t let them double charge their customers, and they’re too small to negotiate with Apple alone.

Apple isn’t having any of it, unsurprisingly. In a response uploaded to the ACCC’s website last week, Apple pointed out that three of the banks involved, Commonwealth, Westpac, and NAB account for 66% of credit card balances in Australia. So Apple needs them in order to get a significant footing for Apple Pay in Australia.

In an amusing statement considering Apple’s tightly held control over its ecosystem, Apple said the banks perceived Apple Pay as a threat on the banks’ ability to “maintain complete control over their customers”.

If the ACCC allows the banks to negotiate in a bloc, Apple has warned it would allow banks to charge customers to use Apple Pay, and would risk the security of its payments technology by opening it up to the banks. It would have a “lasting and irreversible impact” on mobile payments in Australia, Apple warned.

The ACCC has yet to make a decision.