The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) will set a standard for QR code payments by June 2019, allowing easier transactions between different e-payment platforms.
In a report by Business World, Vicente T. de Villa III, officer-in-charge of the BSP’s Financial Technology Sub-Sector, said that industry players are considering EMVCo and the URL standard for QR codes, which are among the widely used payment structures abroad.
The BSP will also work directly with the Philippine Payments Management, Inc. (PPMI) for the standard QR that’s interoperable not just in the country but also abroad. Once the standard has been set, the BSP will mandate players to adopt the QR design that will be used by all.
source: BusinessWorld
You can already use Apple Pay and Google Pay here already on contactless terminals like BDO’s. This is just another way we can pay for things and arguably there is less friction in implementing this system compared to Apple Pay and Google Pay as you don’t even need credit card terminals to accept payments. It’s quick, simple, easy to use and practically any smartphone with a camera can use it. This is just like using Suica in Japan or EasyCard in Taiwan minus the physical NFC card. Having said that, I would love it if PayMaya or GCash add support for Apple Pay so that I can also use their prepaid service for my transactions rather than my credit card.