MANILA - (UPDATE) Globe Telecom said Wednesday its subscribers could use their mobile phones for cashless transactions, even those without credit cards.

The mobile wallet is built into Globe's GCash service and merchants only need to scan a QR code on the phone to complete a transaction, Globe said in a statement.

GCash is a service of Mynt, Globe's financial technology start-up, which recently forged a strategic partnership with Chinese billionaire Jack Ma's Ant Financial.

"Now that more people are using data on their smartphones, the time is ripe to enable digital payments using the smartphone and let this go mainstream," Globe president and CEO Ernest Cu said in a statement.

GCash scan-to-pay will bring to the Philippines convenience similar to Ma's Alipay, which has 520 million users, Ant Financial CEO Eric Jing said in the same statement.

Retail shops and restaurants in Ayala Malls will the be the first to offer Gcash scan-to-pay, Globe said.

The cashless payment service aims to make financial services available to more Filipinos as 75 percent of the population have no bank accounts, said GCash CEO Albert Tinio.

"We want to enable aspirations of the financially underserved, Our advocacy is financial inclusion," Tinio said.

GCash can also be used to pay bills, send or transfer money and buy movie tickets.