That conundrum framed discussions at the Asia Pacific Smart Card Association Next Generation Payments 2026 conference, where GCash joined regulators and global players including the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, United Nations Development Programme, Securities and Exchange Commission, Visa, HSBC Holdings, EMVCo, Crunchfish, Netwrix, Paynet, Infineon Technologies, Entrust, and Fourdotzero.
The focus
Paul Albano, general manager and head of GCash for business, highlighted the realities facing the Philippines’ 9.3 million nano, micro, small, and medium enterprises. Of these, 8.1 million are nano merchants and 1.1 million are micro merchants.
He stressed that inclusion requires more than technology, pointing to efforts such as the BSP’s Palengke QRPh Plus Program, partnerships with the Department of Trade and Industry, and the DigiCities Program with Start-up Village, Canva, and TikTok.
Albano said GCash Pera Outlet Plus is also reshaping sari-sari stores into community hubs, where digital services such as cash-in, cash-out, bills payment, and mobile load purchases are now outselling traditional goods.
The technology debate
Ferdie Perez, GCash head of product innovation, said QR payments, introduced a decade ago with Alipay, now account for 60 percent of digital transactions in the Philippines.
Meanwhile, NFC infrastructure has expanded to more than 300,000 tap-to-pay terminals nationwide. Around 80 to 90 percent of the country’s 80 million smartphone users carry NFC-capable devices.
Despite this readiness, Perez emphasized that adoption must align with market realities. He said QR and NFC are complementary tools designed to serve different segments, rather than competing technologies.
The security imperative
As digital usage grows, so do risks. GCash chief information security officer Miguel Geronilla said fraud has evolved from account takeovers to more sophisticated social engineering schemes.
He recalled how GCash implemented biometric face verification before it became an industry standard.
Current defenses combine behavioral analysis, transaction monitoring, and real-time friction when unusual patterns emerge.
Geronilla also expressed support for the Anti-Financial Account Scamming Act, which strengthens financial institutions’ ability to trace and recover funds across the ecosystem.
The bottom line
Discussions at APSCA underscored that payments innovation will be shaped less by a single breakthrough and more by how effectively the industry bridges gaps in merchant education, infrastructure, and security.
With a 25-year track record in convening identity and payments leaders, APSCA continues to connect decision-makers as firms like GCash anchor technology rollouts on market readiness, ensuring innovation advances financial inclusion rather than leaving vulnerable segments behind. — Ramon C. Nocon | Ed: Corrie S. Narisma
