Elijah Felice Rosales – The Philippine Star

November 5, 2025 | 12:00am

MANILA, Philippines — E-wallet giant GCash is introducing a new innovation for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), allowing them to turn their phones into payment terminals for credit and debit cards.

GCash yesterday announced the launch of PocketPay, a solution enabling MSMEs to accept card payments even without a point-of-sale (POS) machine.

GCash, run by Globe Fintech Innovations (Mynt), added PocketPay to its portfolio of financial services to cater to MSMEs that may find it challenging and costly to acquire a POS machine.

Mynt general manager for business to business Jong Layug said PocketPay empowers MSMEs to expand business without additional cost. Layug added PocketPay gives MSMEs the advantage of being able to accept card payment at a time when Filipinos are shifting to cashless options.

“PocketPay meets MSMEs where they are with a solution that’s flexible, reliable and incredibly easy to use. This is part of our goal to provide simpler and affordable digital payment solutions that allow them to do more with less,” Layug said.

“Digital tools have to work with how MSMEs live and operate, and for many of them, this could mean operating on lean budgets and fast turnarounds,” he added.

Layug said PocketPay removes payment issues for MSMEs, particularly for those who operate in pop-up spaces and move around for deliveries.

The solution is beneficial for MSMEs who run online shops, as they can easily get paid through their phones for every transaction completed.

Layug also said PocketPay removes the steps for confirming digital payments like asking buyers to show receipts of payment transfer. PocketPay requires customers to just tap their cards on the phone and payments are accepted quickly, reducing errors most frequent on manual transfers.

MSMEs may hop on the GCash for Business portal to access the app. Layug said PocketPay can be used at zero fees until Dec. 3.

Further, GCash started offering a solution called SoundPay that accepts QR payments and gives voice confirmation when a customer pays.

SoundPay is available at flexible rates, and GCash is promoting it as an innovation that provides businesses the ability to operate without service interruption.