Global cross-border digital payments solutions Alipay+ has expanded its accessibility in the Philippines as Ant Group announced that three more e-wallets may be used by tourists visiting the country.

These are AlipayHK (Hong Kong), KakaoPay (Korea), and Touch ‘n Go eWallet (Malaysia), which joins Alipay (mainland China) that has been accepted by Filipino merchants since 2017.

Global cross-border digital payments solutions Alipay+ has expanded its accessibility in the Philippines as Ant Group announced that three more e-wallets may be used by tourists visiting the country.

The acceptance of such e-wallets coincides with more travelers going in and out of the Philippines. It’s a good sign just as things are getting back to normal.

South Koreans, Malaysians top visitors

According to the Department of Tourism (DOT), more than 3 million tourists have visited the country as of July 2023. South Korea tops the list of international visitors, while Malaysia ranks in the top 10.

Alipay+ is currently accepted in Manila and Cebu, the two most-visited cities in the country. The Mactan-Cebu International Airport, in particular, saw a 219% increase in passengers. That’s from this year compared to the same period last year.

Integrating Alipay+ across most of its merchants ensures tourists can enjoy cashless payments from the moment they arrive in Cebu.

GCash has waived the QRPH transaction fees or merchant discount rates (MDRs) for micro-merchants who use the scan-to-pay service until the end of 2023.

Micro-merchants are defined as those with businesses that are smaller in scale, such as sari-sari store owners, public market vendors, and online sellers. 

They will also get access to an increased wallet limit of up to PhP 500,000 per month.

In addition, the 1.5% transaction fee is waived up for up to PhP 100,000 in gross sales.

This is expected to give GCash the edge for now as other e-wallets and payment platforms charge fees as high as 2% for the use of their cashless transaction services such as QR-based and card payments.

To date, there are about 845,000 small-scale community merchants using GCash for digital financial solutions.

Pouch, a lightning payment app launched in 2021, is introducing its latest feature called Send Globally which will allow users to facilitate money transfers from the Philippines to any bank account in the United States.

Money will be sent in Philippine pesos and will be received in US dollars via the recipient’s bank account.

Both business and individual accounts can use Send Globally to send any amount from US$ 1 to US$ 1,000. In the future, Pouch plans to raise the transaction limit.

To send money via the Pouch app via Send Globally:

• Download the Pouch.ph app and sign up
• Tap “Send Globally”
• Tap “United States”
• Enter the recipient’s name and bank account number
• Enter the amount (in PhP0
• Confirm the exchange rate
• Funds get credited to the US bank account

The startup app is also planning on expanding into more markets by collaborating with more international partners for seamless payment services across the world.

Pouch is downloadable via both the App Store and Google Play.