Singapore, 29 November 2016 – Grab today launched GrabPay Credits, which delivers a new cashless stored value option allowing top-ups via a variety of widely available local funding sources to its GrabPay in-app mobile payment solution. GrabPay Credits now allows everyone in Southeast Asia to experience the convenience of cashless payments for a more seamless ride experience by easily topping up their balance through local banks, ATMs and stores. Launching first in Indonesia and Singapore, GrabPay Credits will be available in all remaining countries across Southeast Asia in the coming weeks.

Southeast Asia is still a largely cash-based transaction economy. A large proportion of the region’s 620 million people remain unbanked, with the World Bank noting that only 27 percent have a bank account, while only nine percent of adults have a credit card.^[1] In line with Grab’s mission to make safe, affordable transportation accessible to everyone, the launch of its new proprietary method of cashless payment GrabPay Credits provides all consumers across the region with greater access to cashless payments for their mobility needs.

“We believe mastering cashless payments is critical to our mission of ‘driving Southeast Asia forward’ to improve people’s well-being and accelerate the move to an increasingly cashless society. Grab wants to be the region’s leading payments platform and we believe we are uniquely well positioned to do so, as we are one of the most frequently used mobile platforms with up to 1.5 million daily bookings. Since launching GrabPay in January 2016, the convenience of cashless rides has been winning over more consumers, as seen by our continuous double digit growth, month-on-month. Grab is built on providing accessibility and safety to everyone, which has spurred our interest in offering GrabPay Credits to allow everyone, everywhere, the convenience of going cashless for more seamless rides,” said Tan Hooi Ling, Co-founder of Grab.

In Singapore, consumers can purchase top-ups for GrabPay Credits using American Express, China Union Pay, MasterCard and Visa. In all other remaining countries where credit and debit cards are less prevalent, consumers can top-up online or at numerous top-up locations. In Indonesia for example, this includes:

•  Local ATM networks including ATM Alto, ATM Bersama, ATM Prima, BCA, BNI, BRI, CIMB Niaga, PermataBank
• Online bank transfers from BCA, BNI, BRI, CIMB Niaga, Permata Bank
• Popular e-Money account including Doku Wallet
• Convenience stores including Alfamart, Dan+Dan and Lawson
• Credit and debit cards

GrabPay Credits can be purchased at fixed denominations of S$20, S$50 and S$100 or a variable amount between S$10 to S$999. For safety and compliance reasons, GrabPay Credits may only be used for Grab rides from the country of purchase.

Lim Kell Jay, Head of Grab Singapore, said, “GrabPay Credits is an important milestone of our payment strategy to enable safe, accessible, instant commerce to everyone. We will continue to invest in GrabPay so passengers in Singapore can look forward to more payment methods and other local funding sources being added to GrabPay Credits. As the leading ride-hailing platform, Grab intends to play a role in accelerating Singapore’s move to become an ‘e-payments society’.”

With safety as its core, Grab implements global standards and practices to secure and maintain our low fraud rate in line with industry best practice rates. Grab’s proprietary risk and fraud detection system is also enhanced with sophisticated machine learning that progressively builds on the cumulative knowledge of transactions, its users and travel patterns to enable the largest mobile transaction volume on any Southeast Asian consumer platform.

“Through working with local banks, payment providers and merchants, Grab is building one of the region’s largest cashless payment solutions for people with limited access to the banking system. GrabPay now makes cashless payments available to almost everyone in Southeast Asia. We intend to continue building hyperlocal services region-wide, by Southeast Asians, for Southeast Asia,” added Tan.

Figure 1: Topping-up GrabPay Credits in Singapore with Cards and Wallets

Passengers can top up and use GrabPay Credits as their payment method using the following steps:

1. On the GrabPay menu, select “Top-up Credits”.
2. On the Credits page, select the top-up value and the preferred payment method which will indicate the list of options available.
3. Follow the instructions for the particular payment method selected.
4. Once the top-up is successful, a pop-up screen will appear with details on the transaction.
5. The Credits screen reflects the new total balance.

In addition to GrabPay Credits, passengers can now choose to pay in cash or make cashless payments for rides with credit and debit cards, AliPay in Thailand and Singapore, Mandiri e-Cash in Indonesia and Android Pay in Singapore.

^[1] The Global Findex Database 2014, Measuring Financial Inclusion around the World, the World Bank Group, URL.