Grab launches physical payment cards, used at every store that accepts Mastercard

On December 5, Grab introduced a prepaid card, in cooperation with Mastercard, which allows users to pay with their GrabPay e-wallet balance at stores that accept credit cards around the world. Southeast Asia's most valuable startup wants to help its users – especially those without credit cards – shop online and offline.

GrabPay Card. Photo: Grab

The GrabPay card was first issued in Singapore in December 2019 and followed by the Philippines in early 2020 before expanding to the whole region. GrabPay Director Ooi Huey Tyng said this is a "utility" of GrabPay wallet and people can use it anywhere.

Launched in 2012 as a "technology taxi" application, Grab gradually diversifies its operations. In addition to GrabPay, the company also provides lending and insurance services through joint ventures with Credit Saison and ZhongAn.

To strengthen the financial sector, the company recently started researching asset management services and applying for virtual bank licenses in Singapore. Grab views Southeast Asia as a rare opportunity in the financial industry. Most traditional financial institutions serve those with middle income and above and live in the city, leaving hundreds of millions of people without access to banks, credit or insurance.

With a large number of users – according to Grab, the app has 166 million downloads – Grab can effectively serve these audiences. Expanding financial services is important for Grab if it wants to improve profits when the food delivery and ride-hailing market becomes saturated.

Grab's future revenue and profits depend heavily on new products, which are financial services. According to Mr. Ooi, payment is the foundation for the company to build other activities (such as food delivery), which is the "glue" of services together.

Grab directly provides payment services in Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines and through partners in Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam. According to the November 2019 report of iPrice, GrabPay was the most popular payment application in Singapore in the third quarter of 2019, followed by the application of DBS Group Holdings, Southeast Asia's largest bank.

Grab's major investors are SoftBank, Toyota and Microsoft. According to CB Insights, Grab is worth about $ 14.3 billion, rival GoJek is valued at $ 10 billion.