Visa, a digital payments provider, organized an enablement workshop to guide Philippine banks in adopting xPays, or mobile wallets such as Google Pay, Apple Pay, and Samsung Pay.
The event gathered regional partners including Google Southeast Asia, Vietcombank, and Starbucks Vietnam to share insights and best practices on how financial institutions can integrate, launch, and scale xPay services in the local market.
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has clarified that mobile wallets are considered technology service providers, not operators of payment systems. This means they cannot hold funds directly and must be linked to users’ credit, debit, or e-money accounts.
“Digital wallets like Google Pay, Apple Pay, and Samsung Pay amplify the power of Visa by delivering secure, seamless, and innovative payment experiences for consumers, businesses, and our banking partners,” said Jeffrey Navarro, country manager for the Philippines, Visa. “Each tap is protected by Visa’s network token technology, ensuring trust and security while advancing the Philippines’ digital payments landscape.”
The workshop highlighted how tokenization underpins mobile wallet technology. Each time a Visa card is added to an xPay, the card number is replaced with a unique digital token that is securely stored on the device. This token, combined with a cryptogram, is used to authorize payments, keeping sensitive card details hidden from merchants and reducing fraud risks.
Visa reported issuing more than 10 billion tokens globally as of 2024, with 1.5 million e-commerce merchants accepting tokenized transactions daily. In Asia Pacific, Visa’s Token Service generated a $2 billion uplift for merchants in 2023 while cutting fraud rates by 58%.
Speakers included TG Ramakrishnan, Google Payments Strategics Partnership Lead for Asia Pacific; Nguyen Hong Thanh, deputy director of retail product department at Vietcombank; and Nguyen Bao Tram, head of business development and marketing at Starbucks Vietnam. They shared regional experiences on how xPays have supported business growth and improved payment experiences.
The adoption of xPays in the Philippines is expected to enhance digital payments for both local users and international travelers. BSP data shows that digital retail payments already make up 57.4% of transaction volume nationwide, surpassing its 2024 target and moving toward 70% by 2028.