Arthur Fuentes

Article (news)

Google Pay peso dollar

ABS-CBN News

SINGAPORE – Google Pay is expected to be available soon in the Philippines as well as other ASEAN countries, a Google official said during the Singapore Fintech Festival (SFF).At present, Google’s mobile wallet service, which enables &#x27;tap-to-pay&#x27; cashless payments using the NFC chip on smartphones, is already being used in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. But the company intends to roll it out in the rest of Southeast Asia within the coming months.“I&#x27;m pretty sure over the next 18 to 24 months, we are going to cover all 11 [ASEAN countries] and any additional countries in the next 18 to 24 months,” said TG Ramakrishnan, Strategic Partnerships Lead of Google Pay APAC.But the service is expected to reach the Philippines sooner.“I think safe to say, this year,” said Jeffrey Navarro, Visa Philippines Country Manager. Visa is one of the partners of Google in deploying its payments platform in several countries. Navarro, meanwhile, lauded the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas for being “very progressive” in terms of keeping regulations up to date with technology.Last August, the BSP clarified that technical service providers (TSPs), such as Google Pay and Apple Pay are currently not required to register with the central bank. This differentiates them from an Operator of Payment System (OPS), which is required to register with the BSP. While the BSP does not classify technology service providers as operators of payment systems, it underscores that supervised entities engaging with TSPs remain fully responsible for managing any associated risks.Ramakrishnan clarified that Google Wallet, which is used in Google Pay, is not an e-wallet like GCash or Maya. He said it is instead a “literal name translation” that securely stores digital versions of credit cards, debit cards, loyalty cards, event tickets, and digital IDs and keys.“You keep your credit card, debit cards, national ID, driver&#x27;s license, health cards, car keys all in your [Google] wallet,” Ramakrishnan told visitors to the Philippine exhibit at the SFF.“You have the right and the ability to choose what you want to pay with. What Google Payments wants to do is give you the options, present it to you at a point at which it&#x27;s personalized, it&#x27;s relevant, and it&#x27;s simple,” he said.Local payment service providers (PSPs) such as banks need to partner with Google Pay and Apple Pay to integrate their card-issuing systems with the tech giants’ platforms, according to the BSP. Banks need to tokenize or replace sensitive data such as bank account details, with a unique, randomly generated string of characters called a token to prevent fraud.

Google's mobile wallet, which lets users pay using their NFC-enabled phones, will soon arrive in the Philippines.

Google's mobile wallet, which lets users pay using their NFC-enabled phones, will soon arrive in the Philippines.

Google Pay seen ‘coming soon’ to the Philippines, other ASEAN countries

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Google Pay seen ‘coming soon’ to the Philippines, other ASEAN countries

Arthur Fuentes,

ABS-CBN News

Published November 12, 2025 11:43 PM PHT

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Updated November 13, 2025 09:52 PM PHT

Read More:

Google Pay

mobile wallet

NFC

cashless payments

Visa

Singapore Fintech Festival

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