The Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) and other local banks are planning to support Apple Pay and Google Pay by next year as the global digital wallets prepare to enter the Philippines.

BPI President and CEO Jose Teodoro Limcaoco said banks must first tokenize their cards—a security process that replaces card details with encrypted “stand-in” numbers on devices—before integrating with the services.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has previously ruled that Apple Pay and Google Pay are technology service providers, not payment service operators, meaning they do not need formal registration as they do not hold users’ funds.

“What (Apple Pay and Google Pay) have to do is make sure that the banks who want to participate have their card products capable of being tokenised,” Limcaoco told reporters.

Both platforms allow contactless payments via smartphones or smartwatches using linked debit, credit, or e-money accounts.

Limcaoco noted that the wallets are likely waiting for broad participation from multiple banks for a successful launch, rather than starting with a single institution.

BPI is currently preparing its systems and expects to be ready by 2026.