This is not simply an excuse. Android phones are prevalent in countries where smartphones offer the only realistic access to banking and cashless payments to the majority of the population. Scamming schemes targeting those users are also very frequent in many, if not most of these countries, and educating people about them is hard. Like it or not, this change is likely going to be a net positive for many people.
No, that's an excuse. Google just wants a tighter grip on their software chain, which is understandable if they were Apple but they're not.