GoTyme Bank has enabled Apple Pay for its customers in the Philippines, becoming the first digital bank in the country to offer the service, its card processor Paymentology said in a statement on Tuesday.

Customers can add their GoTyme debit card to Apple Wallet and make contactless payments in stores, in apps and online where Apple Pay is accepted. Apple Pay uses tokenisation, under which a card number is replaced by a device-specific code and is not shared with merchants, with payments authenticated by Face ID, Touch ID or a passcode.

Apple Pay became available in the Philippines on August 4, when Apple listed GoTyme alongside Chinabank, Metrobank and UnionBank among the first participating banks. GoTyme was the only digital bank in that initial group. The service arrives as digital payments account for more than half of retail payment transactions in the Philippines, according to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, the central bank in the country.

Nate Clark, president and chief executive of GoTyme Bank, said the addition gave customers a secure way to pay while continuing to earn rewards points on transactions. Minh-Ha Truong, head of growth for Asia-Pacific at Paymentology, said cloud-based card processing allowed digital banks to add payment features quickly.

Digital Bank GoTyme Bank is a joint venture between the Gokongwei group of companies and the digital banking group Tyme. Paymentology is a UK-based issuer processor that provides card-processing technology to banks and fintech companies globally.

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