Briefs: Apple Pay launches in the US, RBNZ tweaks TWI, GE mum on local asset sale, UK mortgage rates 20 October 2014 4:09PM John Kavanagh Briefs, More than 500 financial institutions have signed on to Apple Pay, the smartphone maker said at the end of last week. Apple Pay will launch in the US today, enabling Americans with the most modern handset to use their iPhones to make payments at retailers such as Target, Uber, Groupon, and Starbucks. Apple is also extending the Touch ID measure for payments within apps on the newly released iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 3. The Reserve Bank of New Zealand extended the composition of its trade- weighted index, a measure of the exchange rate, to from five to seventeen currencies. Trade in services will now also inform the weighting at future reviews. GE Capital's planned disposal of its Australian consumer finance business failed to rate a mention in General Electric's third quarter results update on Friday. GE Capital disclosed in September that a sale of the consumer business was in the works. A home loan interest rate discounting cycle is gathering pace in the UK, a trend likely to prove adverse for NAB's Clydesdale Bank. HSBC has debuted a home loan rate of only 0.99 per cent, and weekend UK media report that many other lenders have "announced sharp rate cuts." Negative real interest rates are a real fact of life for depositors in Europe. The Wall Street Journal reported that several global banks have begun charging investment firms, such as hedge funds and mutual-fund companies, to deposit their money in euros. Bank of New York Mellon recently started charging 0.2 per cent on euro deposits, while Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase and Credit Suisse have told customers to expect to face negative interest rates.