What's New in Payments

Malaysian government offers cash incentives to mobile payments users

Overwhelming response on first day of RM30 e-Tunai initiative — The Star — “The claims for the e-Tunai Rakyat initiative kicked off today with Touch ‘n Go eWallet, Boost and GrabPay selected to be the service providers for the project… Malaysians aged 18 and above and who earn less than RM100,000 (US$24,533) annually will be eligible to receive RM30 (US$7.36) each through any of the participating e-wallets.”


What's New in Payments

Grab to issue mobile-first numberless Mastercard across SE Asia

Grab launches Asia’s first numberless card — Grab — “The physical version of the card is completely numberless, front and back, thus averting the prospect of theft of personal and financial information… The digital GrabPay Card is available in Singapore starting today… The digital GrabPay Card will be launched in the Philippines in Q1 2020, with other Southeast Asian countries to follow in the first half of next year.”


What's New in Payments

POS terminals that support 23 different QR, contactless and NFC payments services roll out in Singapore

Unified cashless payment system rolled out at 500 hawker stalls across Singapore — The Straits Times — “The solution, provided by Nets, unifies payments from 23 providers, so dining customers can use different cashless payment options at a single payment terminal at a food outlet. This also saves hawkers the hassle of dealing with multiple e-payment firms. These include e-wallets like Singtel Dash and GrabPay, transport cards EZ-Link and Nets FlashPay, and credit cards such as Visa and Mastercard.”


What's New in Payments

Singapore begins rollout of QR code that works with multiple mobile payment schemes

Singapore introduces world’s first unified payment QR code — SGQR — Monetary Authority of Singapore — “The first of its kind globally, SGQR combines multiple payment QR codes into a single SGQR label, making QR code-based mobile payments simple for both consumers and merchants. SGQR will be adopted by 27 payment schemes including PayNow, NETS, GrabPay, Liquid Pay and Singtel Dash, and will be deployed progressively over the next six months.”


What's New in Payments

Maybank teams up with GrabPay for mobile payments in Malaysia

Grab partners Maybank to promote GrabPay in Malaysia — The Straits Times — “The tie-up brings the GrabPay mobile wallet to its second country after Singapore. Grab has plans to roll out the GrabPay service across all eight countries in South-east Asia this year… Maybank’s Malaysia customers will be able to use the GrabPay mobile wallet to conduct both payments at Maybank’s key merchants, and to top-up their mobile wallet directly from their bank accounts. Maybank customers who use GrabPay to pay for rides and other services on Grab will enjoy exclusive benefits and rewards.”


Transit Ticketing Today

Ride-hailing app Grab acquires mobile payments startup iKaaz

Grab announces acquisition of Bangalore-based payments startup iKaaz — Grab — “The rich functionality of iKaaz’ mobile payments platform and its experienced leadership team will accelerate feature development and partner integration of GrabPay, Grab’s payments platform. Already Southeast Asia’s #1 ride-hailing platform, Grab is expanding across all markets in Southeast Asia in 2018 with the goal of becoming the region’s universal payments platform.”


What's New in Payments

Taxi hailing app Grab targets Asian mobile payment market

Grab starts mobile wallet service at hawker stalls in Singapore — Bloomberg — “Grab will enable its four million users in the city-state to scan a quick response, or QR, code to pay for local dishes such as chicken rice and prawn noodles at hawker stands around the country. Grab plans to increase the number of small merchants accepting GrabPay from 25 to 1,000 by the end of December… The five-year-old startup plans to roll out mobile wallet services across the region next year, according to co-founder Tan Hooi Ling.”


What's New in Payments

Ride-hailing app Grab launches e-payment and fund transfer system

Ride-hailing app Grab launches e-payment and fund transfer system — The Straits Times — “Users will be able to transfer GrabPay credits between themselves via its in-app mobile wallet… Grab also aims to work with more than 1,000 merchants in the retail, entertainment and food and beverage industries to accept mobile payments through GrabPay in the fourth quarter of 2017.”