The Grab ride-hailing app has added Malaysia as the second market outside of its Singapore headquarters where customers may use the app for other purposes, such as making payments at merchants, earning rewards and transferring funds to other Grab users.
The mobile wallet, called GrabPay Credits, operates at 500 merchant locations in eight Malaysian cities, enabling users to send funds to other Grab app users via a QR code or a mobile phone number, targeting a population currently conducting 80% of transactions in cash, Grab said in a press release Tuesday.
Malaysian consumers may use GrabPay Credits to pay for GrabFood, rides and any participating merchants, by tapping the GrabPay icon, selecting “pay” and scanning the merchant’s QR code.
Users may load funds for GrabPay Credits from the Grab app or through a credit or debit card. Later this year users will be able to load funds directly from a bank account through Maybank’s online portal.
Grab received an e-money license from Bank Negara Malaysia in December, and last month it announced a
Each GrabPay Credits transaction is eligible to earn points good for rewards app users may redeem for items in the Grab catalog, Grab noted in the release.
“With GrabPay, consumers across Malaysia, regardless of age, can participate in the cashless, digital economy without having to download additional apps,” said Ooi Huey Tyne, GrabPay’s managing director for the southeast Asian region. The company previously said it plans to expand GrabPay Credits to other Asian markets.
Grab was founded as a taxi ride-hailing service in 2012 in Malaysia, before relocating to Singapore. In addition to Malaysia and Singapore, Grab’s app supports taxi payments in Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar and Cambodia.
