A top official from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said that Apple Pay and Google Pay are exploring the idea of finally bringing their services in the Philippines.
As per BSP deputy governor Mamerto Tangonan, they already had meetings with Apple and Google representatives to bring their wallet services to the country.
The BSP executive said they advised the two companies to first secure a registration with the central bank as operators of payment systems (OPS).
“They’re exploring, and then we had a discussion on their activities and then it was clear to us that they are — when you touch the payment system, you are an operator of payment systems,” Tangonan said.
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In BSP’s definition, an operator is any person — both natural and juridical persons and all types of business organizations — who provides clearing or settlement services in a payment system, or defines, designs, prescribes, controls, or maintains the operational framework for the system.
Entities that do OPS activities are required to have a BSP registration in compliance with the National Payments Systems Act (NPSA).
A lot of mobile users in the Philippines have been waiting for Apple Pay and Google Pay to arrive. Their services are said to be faster and more convenient thanks to the use of NFC, instead of the QR code-based transactions commonly implemented in the country.
With Apple Pay and Google Pay, users only have to link their debit card, credit card, or e-money account and then quickly transact by tapping their phones or smartwatches to merchants’ POS systems.
Bringing Apple Pay and Google Pay should help improve the digital payment adaption in the Philippines. A few months ago, the BSP reported that 52.8 percent of monthly retail payments in 2023 were already digital-based — much higher than the 42.1 percent from the year before.
Via: GMA News Online