K-pop star Bae Jin-young encouraged Filipinos to visit South Korea and highlighted activities and food that they can enjoy there during the winter season. The singer, who became part of the K-pop boy bands Wanna One and CIX, flew to Manila for the Korea Travel Fiesta 2026 held on Aug. 22 and 23...
Filipino travelers holding valid regular Philippine passports may avail themselves of a visa upon arrival in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) under updated guidelines and requirements, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said Tuesday, August 18. The DFA said the updated policy covers Filipinos...
Visa and USSC Money Services, Inc. (UMSI), one of the largest one-stop shops for financial services in the Philippines, are ushering in a new era of payments digitalization with the launch of U Accept, an innovative payment solution that empowers micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to...
Global digital payments firm Visa and USSC Money Services, Inc. (UMSI) have launched U Accept, a payment solution that turns smartphones into point-of-sale (POS) terminals, allowing small enterprises to accept e-payments without investing in traditional, often costly, POS hardware. “UMSI has...
Philippine banks have begun onboarding customers to the newly launched Apple Pay, enabling Mastercard- and Visa-powered debit and credit cardholders to use the digital payment service in the country. Apple Inc.’s website showed that Apple Pay currently supports card linking for cardholders of...
Visa (NYSE: V), a global leader in digital payments, announced today, Aug. 4, that Visa debit and credit cardholders in the Philippines can now add their eligible cards to Apple Pay on their iPhone, Apple Watch, iPad, and Mac. Apple Pay is an easy, secure and private way to pay in-store, in-app...
Visa and GCash will launch a new and more secure payment experience allowing consumers to use Visa cards as a funding source for QR transactions in the GCash app. The new capability gives consumers greater security and flexibility in how they pay, enabling them to link eligible Visa cards to GCash...
Philippine consumer spending recorded the sharpest deterioration among emerging Asian economies in the second quarter of 2026, as elevated inflation continued to erode households’ purchasing power despite a surge in fuel spending, according to global financial giant Visa. In a report on Friday,...
Visa and Land Bank of the Philippines (Landbank) are targeting a nearly twentyfold expansion of their digital expense management platform by the end of the year, aiming to bring 2,000 government agencies onto a system designed to automate public spending and curb improper outlays. During the...
Taiwan has extended its visa-free entry program for Philippine passport holders for another year, allowing Filipinos to continue visiting the self-ruled island without a visa for stays of up to 14 days from Aug. 1, 2026, until July 31, 2027. The Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) in the...
Only three percent of adult Filipinos own credit cards, placing the country among the laggards in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), with the gap most pronounced compared to advanced Asia-Pacific economies. In Asian emerging markets (EMs), the Philippines trails only Cambodia’s...
Following the rollout of contactless fare payments on Light Rail Transit Line 2 (LRT-2), the government is targeting the launch of the same system on LRT-1 to ease payment bottlenecks and address ticket and Beep card shortages. Starting on Monday, July 13, LRT-2 commuters may use Visa or Mastercard...
