While the push for cashless payments is slowly progressing–the latest being GCash adding QR payment support to HUAWEI smartwatches–one of the things we are waiting for is Apple Pay and Google Pay to be available in the Philippines. There’s good news to that, as the BSP confirmed that they have meetings with representatives of Apple Pay and Google Pay.

“They’re exploring, and then we had a discussion on their activities and then it was clear to us that they are — when you touch the payment system, you are an operator of payment systems,” BSP deputy governor Mamerto Tangonan told members of the media in an interview.

While that’s progress in bringing both e-wallet services to the Philippines, Tangonan said that both Google Pay and Apple Pay have to  secure registration with the BSP as operators of payment systems (OPS) before they can officially operate in the Philippines.

“You perform such things so because of that, we deem them as operator of payment systems. Therefore, they need to register. ‘Yun ang guidance namin sa kanila (That is our guidance to them),” he added.

By definition, an OPS is defined as “an operator as any person–both natural and juridical persons and all types of business organizations–who provides clearing or settlement services in a payment system, or defines, prescribes, designs, controls, or maintains the operational framework for the system.” According to Tangonan, Apple Pay and Google Pay have yet to formally apply for registration with the BSP.

Both Apple Pay and Google Pay make use of NFC to allow users to tap their phones or smartwatches to conduct payments with their linked debit cards, credit cards, or e-Wallet accounts.