Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has announced that it is currently working on rapidly expanding its mobile payment service Apple Pay to all major markets in Europe and Asia.

Vice president of Apple Pay Jennifer Bailey stated that the company’s aim is to carry out a rapid expansion of the mobile payment service to more countries in the Asian and European region. The move is aimed at pushing the availability of the service to all the markets where the firm has operations.

Apple recently expanded the service to Singapore a month ago, making it the second country in Asia to gain access to the payment service. The first Asian launch was in China. The iPhone maker has had great success in Singapore so far. Five banks are on board with the service and Apple Pay now covers about 80% of the cards in the country. The company’s mobile payment service is already available in the US, Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom but Apple has revealed plans to expand to more markets. Apple plans to launch the service in Hong Kong though it has remained relatively secretive about future plans for the service.

Bailey stated that the firm is currently in talks with numerous banks and partners to determine how fast the service can be rolled out in new markets. China was the first Asian market to receive Apple Pay because of is large population and because it is one of Apple’s major markets. It was therefore logical to roll out the service in the country because Singapore and Hong Kong are considerably smaller compared to China.

Bailey also stated that one of the things that the company looks at when deciding whether to launch or expand Apple Pay in a country is the size of the market for Apple products. The company also carries out an evaluation of credit card and debit card use in the country as well as the availability of contactless payment systems. Apple’s rapid roll out for the service is to give it a competitive edge as well as leveraging dominance in the mobile payments market.