Philippine banks are working to tokenize their cards, a key step toward integrating with technology service providers Apple Pay and Google Pay, a top official of the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) said.

According to BPI president and chief executive officer Jose Teodoro “TG” Limcaoco, banks will first have to tokenize their cards, which would entail replacing card details with a “stand-in” number saved on a user’s device to enhance security by protecting actual account data.

“The BSP has now ruled that they don’t have to be payment service providers, so now they’re free to go. What they have to do is make sure that the banks who want to participate have their card products capable of being tokenized,” he said in a recent interview.

This comes as the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) earlier said Apple Pay and Google Pay do not qualify as operators of payment systems (OPS) as they do not plan to hold funds for Filipino users, removing the need for prior registration.

Both Apple Pay and Google Pay allow users to make financial transactions through near-field communication (NFC) devices, enabling users to tap their smartphones or smartwatches to make payments using linked debit or credit cards and e-money accounts.

“There’s some technology that has to be worked on with the card system. The banks have to make sure that the cards can be tokenized and also to make a successful launch, Google Pay and Apple Pay—just like any major product—have to launch with enough support, enough volume if you will,” Limcaoco said.

“Therefore it’s crazy if one of them launches with just one bank. They want as many people to be able to participate. I suspect they’re waiting until enough banks tell them ‘Okay, na kami [We’re okay]’,” he added.

BPI, the country’s third-largest bank with P3.435-trillion in assets as of end-June 2025, is not yet ready to tokenize but Limcaoco said this may be achieved in 2026: “I cannot tell because it’s different. Kaya [We can] next year.”

BSP deputy governor Mamerto Tangonan in December 2024 said both Apple Pay and Google Pay were exploring offering their services to the Philippine market.

“It would be crazy for a bank not to participate, but I don’t know what their exact plans are,” Limcaoco said. — BM, GMA Integrated News