GCash has expanded its services to Australia, Italy, and Japan

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas has approved the beta launch of mobile wallet GCash Overseas, which will allow Filipinos in Australia, Italy, Japan, and soon in the US, to use its services using international SIM cards.

GCash President and CEO Martha Sazon made the announcement on Facebook, saying international users can now send and receive money to any GCash account, as well as pay bills, buy load, cash in, and transfer to other banks.

She also said that more regions will be supported "in the near future."

"Truly a huge collective effort from our team for the Filipino OFWs and migrants around the world," Sazon wrote.

In a separate statement, Sazon said around 10 million Filipinos living abroad will benefit from this new GCash service.

To use the app, international users must register their account with a Philippine passport or any valid Philippine ID.

Globe also noted that one should make sure their mobile number is active and has access to receive OTP's. 

For now, only the first 1,000 users will be able to access the app. The app is expect to fully launch this year.

Aside from this effort, GCash has recently partnered with global payments platform, Alipay+. This allows users to pay using GCash in select merchants across countries like Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Qatar, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Italy.