Grab launches numberless payments card

Southeast Asian ride-hailing major Grab announced the launch of digital and physical numberless payments card GrabPay Card, a culmination of its ongoing partnership with payments giant Mastercard.

Mastercard executive vice president of digital and emerging partnerships and new payment flows for Asia Pacific Rama Sridhar (left) and GrabPay managing director Huey Tyng Ooi / Photo credit: Grab

The digital variant of the new card is now available in Singapore. Upon receiving the digital card, users can apply for the physical card, which will then be rolled out in batches.

The GrabPay Card is set to be launched next in the Philippines during the first quarter of 2020, with other countries in Southeast Asia to follow in the first half of that year, according to a statement.

Grab said that its new cards expand its offline and online merchant ecosystem. They also offer users access to more rewards, Grab payments, and online purchases, as well as integration with Samsung Pay wallet to enable payments in contactless-enabled offline terminals.

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GrabPay plans to continue adding features to its e-wallet and the new cards in a bid to become a regional fintech leader. In addition, it is also rolling out an upgraded user interface to further simplify payments and financial tracking.

The announcement follows a Reuters report saying that Grab is one of about three dozen companies in talks to form partnerships to apply for a digital bank license in Singapore.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore announced earlier this year that it will issue up to five new digital bank licenses, which will be extended to non-bank players. It has attracted companies such as Alibaba’s Ant Financial, which is actively looking into the opportunity.