• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Expense Manager Services

Getting a handle on Unmanaged Spend through Expense Manager Services

  • Home
  • Babcock Advisors
  • What We Do
    • Our Process
    • Telecom
      • Telecom Invoice Audit Service
    • Merchant Services Cost Reduction
    • 5 Top Reasons for Outsourcing Human Resources Functions
    • Payroll Services
  • Who We Are
  • Blog

09.06.17 mobile wallet

Asia gets a new mobile wallet, and surprise, it’s not from a bank or payment company

Finally, people in Singapore are about to get an easier and quicker way to send money to a friend, via a mobile wallet app.

But surprisingly, it’s not coming from a bank or payment company — it’s coming from ride-hailing app, Grab.

SEE ALSO: You can now pay for public transport in China’s capital with Android phones

Grab, Uber’s biggest competition in Southeast Asia, on Wednesday announced users will be able to transfer funds in the app’s wallet between users, without fees.

They can do it by sending money over to a mobile number registered with Grab, or by physically scanning a friend’s QR code.

Image: GRAB

Image: grab

The function is similar to what users have with China’s WeChat and Alipay wallets — arguably the world leaders in simple peer-to-peer fund transfers.

But it’ll lack one key thing that the Chinese apps have. Your money in the Grab wallet can’t be transferred out to a bank account.

That means whatever you have in there needs to be spent on rides or to be sent back to other friends.

1,000 street vendors are coming

By the end of the year though, Grab plans to announce a raft of 1,000 small merchants in Singapore that’ll be on board, allowing you to pay with a scan of their QR codes.

Now we’re talking. The biggest barriers to cashless adoption in cash-reliant Southeast Asia are infrastructure and bank fees.

To take a credit card, a street vendor would have to get a point-of-sale system that works with MasterCard or Visa, and pay fees of between 1 percent and 3 percent on each transaction.

Alipay and Wechat, on the other hand, revolutionised the Chinese market with the simple QR code scanner, and far lower fees of less than 1 percent.

Grab hasn’t announced its merchant fee structure yet. But if it’s acceptably low to the small retailer, it could really help unshackle users here from carrying cash around.

In Singapore, at least, the cashless options haven’t been quite as slick as what China has. Recently, the country’s banks jointly announced a way to pay friends from your mobile banking app.

That process requires a 2FA token or SMS code, and way too many taps, in comparison to what Grab is showing off right now.

Local bank DBS has a QR code P2P payment option, but again it requires fiddling with 2FA codes. DBS has been trying to get small merchants onboard, to its credit.

For Grab, its headstart into the market with 1,000 merchants in Singapore (and presumably way more in the region) may well further entrench users in relying on the app, beyond calling for rides.

Grab already claims about 72 percent market share for private vehicle sharing, and 95 percent for taxis in Southeast Asia, where it’s in seven countries fighting Uber.

It also processes 1 billion payment transactions annually for rides, but it’s got to prepare to add merchants to that load soon.

So while the country continues to look for a way to go cashless, Grab’s already out of the gates. It’ll be interesting to see who’s next on its tail.

WATCH: Should we even really worry about GMOs?

Read more: http://mashable.com/2017/08/30/grab-wallet-singapore/

Tags: asia, business, cash, cashless, e-payments, grab, mobile-payments, mobile-wallet, singapore, southeast-asia

sidebar

Blog Sidebar

account_balance

Lower Merchant Processing Fees

In a time like this, reducing expense shouldn’t be an afterthought…it should be a top priority.

That’s why we’ve come up with a service that’ll help you minimize your fees today…without switching payment processors.

More Here

chat

Telecom and Data Expense Services

We help reduce telecom and data expenses

Using a combination of exceptional people, highly structured audit processes and reporting systems. All without switching providers.

More Here

assignment_ind

5 Top Reasons for Outsourcing Human Resources Functions

Save time, money and headaches with a human resources outsourcing solution that has the flexibility to fit your needs perfectly.

More Here

work

What We Do

You can Improve profitability Two Ways, Increase Revenues or Lower Costs.

Our Expense Manager Services are focused on helping you increase profitability, through Fixed Cost Reduction.

More Here

Recent Blog Posts

Personal loans can help in a crunch. But read this before you apply

April 28, 2020

Personal loans can help in a crunch. But read this before you apply

Hundreds of French academics sign letter asking for safeguards on contact tracing

April 27, 2020

Hundreds of French academics sign letter asking for safeguards on contact tracing

Nintendo reveals 160,000 accounts were breached

April 27, 2020

Nintendo reveals 160,000 accounts were breached

How Can We Reduce Costs For Your Business?

Let's start talking about reducing your costs and growing your profits. Step one is to let us know how we can help.Contact Us

Footer

Babcock Advisors

604 14th Ave North West
Suite 200
Kasson, MN 55944

Phone: 507-208-8881