PalawanPay, the mobile e-wallet application of the Palawan Group of Companies, is targeting a fourth-quarter launch of its physical card as it expands beyond digital services, according to a company executive.

"We're looking at launching the physical cards later this year. Maybe later early next year, but the goal really is around November, December," Palawan Group of Companies President and Chief Executive Officer Karlo M. Castro told reporters in an interview on Thursday.

"Q4 is the target but of course, there are a lot of moving parts. Tech is almost done, but there's a lot of regulatory requirements," he added. E-money issuers and payment operators in the Philippines function under Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas oversight, which governs how wallet and card products are cleared for rollout.

The physical Visa card is designed to provide more flexible point-of-sale and in-store payments, with a "minimum" foreign exchange fee for users worldwide. Mr. Castro noted that the product will also support cash access.

"It's really not just a Visa card, it's also with banknotes, so you can withdraw at the ATM (Automated Teller Machine) so there's going to be a minimal fee to have a card but most of the features are actually available digitally," he said.

"It's just the usual Visa charge, the forex fees, but it's going to be very minimal. We'll make sure that it's affordable," he added. Cash access remains relevant in the Philippines, where physical currency is still widely used even as digital payments adoption expands.

The expansion into physical cards follows the launch of PalawanPay's Visa virtual card last year. With the virtual card, users can pay for online transactions on e-commerce platforms, subscription services, and bill payments. The digital card also allows users to cash in for free at more than 3,500 Palawan Express branches nationwide.

PalawanPay is following a route already taken by the country's leading e-wallets, GCash and Maya, which offer cards linked to their wallets to let users spend beyond QR-code and in-app payments.

Mr. Castro emphasized that the group's offerings are designed to work together, spanning services from pawning to insurance.

"All the services, whether it's pawning, it's buying insurance, whether it's renewing their pawns or any other service, buying insurance, it's really interconnected," he said.

"You can use PalawanPay for any of the services of the Palawan group and vice versa so really, that's the advantage," he added. That reach is anchored by the group's Palawan Express remittance network, which supplies the branch footprint PalawanPay uses for cash-in.

In June, the virtual card added Google Wallet support, enabling users to make contactless payments in stores through their mobile phones instead of a physical card.

"I personally linked my PalawanPay Visa card virtually to Google Pay so I can really pay in terminals and even abroad," Mr. Castro said. "We're a couple of months away from Apple Pay, but we launched Google Pay a few months ago."

PalawanPay currently has 23 million users since its launch in 2022. Of these, 1.8 million have activated and used their virtual cards. The milestones ahead, as laid out by Mr. Castro, are the Q4 card launch — possibly moving to early next year — and the arrival of Apple Pay support. — Almira Louise S. Martinez