Visa Inc has launched its Garmin Pay service in the Philippines, expanding its wearable payments offering as the country pushes toward a more cashless economy.
The service allows cardholders from participating local banks to link their Visa debit and credit cards to compatible Garmin smartwatches for contactless payments.
With the rollout, the Philippines joins Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, and Malaysia as the fifth Southeast Asian market to adopt Garmin Pay.
Visa said the expansion is aimed at addressing payment friction in key sectors such as tourism, where it said 44% of visitors encounter transaction issues, largely due to limited merchant acceptance.
The company also cited broader regional trends, noting strong consumer preference for digital and device-based payments.
The system uses Visa’s tokenization technology, which replaces card details with encrypted digital identifiers to reduce fraud risk.
“Contactless payment platforms such as Garmin Pay amplify Visa’s benefit to Filipinos, enabling speed, convenience, and security with every contactless transaction,” said Jeffrey Navarro, Visa’s country manager for the Philippines.
He added that the rollout supports efforts to integrate digital payments across retail, transport, and hospitality, in line with the central bank’s push to modernize the country’s payment infrastructure.
Visa data showed that more than 70% of consumers in the Asia-Pacific region now prefer using smart devices for point-of-sale transactions.
