Filipino small businesses can now accept contactless card payments using a smartphone as Visa and USSC Money Services Inc. (UMSI) roll out a payment solution designed to reduce reliance on traditional point-of-sale (POS) terminals.
Called U Accept, the service is powered by Visa Accept and integrated into UMSI’s uGrow platform for micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs). Merchants can use an eligible near-field communication (NFC)-enabled smartphone to accept contactless card payments without investing in a conventional card terminal.
The development pushes card acceptance further down the MSME market, where hardware costs and onboarding requirements have traditionally made payment terminals less practical for smaller merchants.
The smartphone becomes the payment terminal
With U Accept, customers can tap a contactless card directly on a participating merchant’s compatible smartphone.
The service also supports pay-by-link transactions, while merchants can send digital receipts through email, review transaction histories, monitor sales, and manage inventory through the uGrow ecosystem. Payments can be settled on a near-real-time basis to the merchant’s U Visa Prepaid Card.
Visa first introduced Visa Accept in Asia Pacific as a way for micro-sellers to receive card payments using NFC-enabled smartphones rather than dedicated POS hardware. The Philippines rollout brings that model to Filipino entrepreneurs through UMSI.
UMSI is a Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas-licensed electronic money issuer and already provides e-wallet, money transfer, QR payment, and prepaid card services aimed partly at unbanked and underserved users.
Card acceptance moves closer to micro merchants
The biggest change is the cost and complexity of getting started.
A traditional POS setup generally requires merchants to acquire or receive dedicated payment hardware. U Accept instead uses a device many entrepreneurs already own.
UMSI said merchants seeking accreditation can present a barangay or business permit, while Visa clarified that the service is intended as an entry-level payment option rather than a replacement for conventional POS systems.
Visa also cited research showing that 83% of surveyed Filipino SME owners reported higher turnover after accepting cards, while 41% said customers spent more when paying by card. Among merchants not yet accepting cards, 67% said they would consider doing so if given support.
Visa and UMSI deepen their payments partnership
U Accept extends an existing relationship between the two companies.
In 2025, Visa and UMSI launched Visa Direct in the Philippines to support outbound cross-border payments for businesses. They had also previously partnered on the U Visa Prepaid Card, which allows users to make purchases through Visa and BancNet channels.
The latest rollout brings that partnership directly to the merchant checkout.
For small retailers, freelancers, market vendors, and service providers, accepting a card no longer necessarily means installing another machine on the counter.
As smartphones take on more of the functions once handled by dedicated payment hardware, the next stage of digital payment adoption could increasingly depend on making the devices merchants already own capable of accepting more ways to pay.
