Philippines to accept Google Pay & Apple Pay via Aqwire — a game changer for OFWs

When Filipino expatriates in the UAE settle their bills, support families, and invest back home, they often juggle multiple remittance services, bank transfers, and sometimes cumbersome foreign exchange fees. But now, a new fintech development promises to ease that burden: Aqwire, a cross-border payments platform, has become the first company in the Philippines to process Google Pay and Apple Pay for cross-border transactions.

This is not just a tech upgrade. For millions of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) in the Gulf, including those in the UAE, it may be a structural shift in how they send money home or pay Philippine bills from abroad.

Aqwire has long operated as a payments gateway aiming to accept payments from anywhere in the world and settle in Philippine pesos. Their platform supports multiple currencies and is used by real estate developers, utility providers, educational institutions, and businesses serving Filipinos abroad.

In September, Aqwire announced it would support Google Pay and Apple Pay for cross-border payments — meaning a payer abroad can use those familiar digital wallets to pay invoices or send money through the Aqwire portal. The integration leans on tokenization technology, where sensitive card data is replaced by secure cryptographic tokens, reducing fraud risk and making checkout smoother.

By doing this, Aqwire becomes the first Philippine payments company to enable Google Pay and Apple Pay in cross-border flows. The move followed a regulatory environment in the Philippines that gave those wallet services room to operate without needing separate registration with central banking authorities.

Aqwire also recently partnered with Filinvest Land for the Philippines’ first real estate transaction using the SEPA (Single Euro Payments Area) system, underscoring its ambition to serve global payments across regions.

For a Filipino working in the UAE, the day often includes the mental load of 'sending money home' — paying for tuition, mortgage, utilities, or investments in the Philippines. Some use remittance services, others use international bank transfers or local US/UAE wallets, each with fees, delays, and exchange markups.

Right now, the UAE remains one of the countries from which OFWs send a large share of remittances to the Philippines. Data shows there are around 700,000 Filipinos in the UAE, of whom a large portion are labor migrants or foreign workers.

One piece of good news already in place: despite recent changes in banking policies, OFWs in the UAE will continue to enjoy free remittance fees from the Emirates NBD’s DirectRemit service when sending to the Philippines — the Philippines remains one of the exempted destinations.

Still, that exemption covers only certain bank transfers. With Google Pay and Apple Pay now usable through Aqwire, OFWs could gain an alternative, more direct route: pay Philippine businesses or entities (real estate firms, schools, utilities) using one’s mobile wallet, without needing intermediary remittance platforms. Rather than converting funds into a foreign bank transfer, one can route through Aqwire, which handles the cross-border currency exchange and settlement in pesos.

This reduces friction. If the payer in UAE already has Google Pay or Apple Pay set up with UAE-issued cards or banking integration, sending payment becomes as simple as buying on an app. Especially for those who handle multiple payments monthly (mortgage, tuition, subscriptions), this could cut time and cost overheads.

Moreover, the security benefits matter: tokenization ensures card numbers are not exposed; quicker checkouts mean fewer input errors; and the platform can reconcile payments neatly in Aqwire’s dashboard. For OFWs managing tight finances and remote transactions, these advantages carry real weight.

That said, several factors will determine whether this system is truly transformative or merely incremental:

For now, Filipinos in the UAE should watch for announcements from Aqwire and their local banks about compatible cards or wallet support. It’s likely Aqwire will roll out promotional campaigns or tutorials to onboard overseas Filipinos to the system smoothly.

In the medium term, this could rival traditional remittances as a preferred method for paying Philippine obligations from abroad. Instead of sending money first, then having it used by a household member to pay bills, the process may shrink: you pay directly from your mobile wallet, in one transaction.

In that sense, the integration of Google Pay and Apple Pay by Aqwire is more than fintech flair — for many OFWs, it could be a practical lifeline to reduce financial friction across borders. If all delivers as promised, UAE-based Filipinos may soon find themselves paying Philippine mortgage, tuition, and utilities with the same convenience as scanning a QR code, even from thousands of kilometers away.