Singapore-based ride-hailing company Grab announced on Thursday it has teamed up with KASIKORNBANK (KBank) to introduce GrabPay by KBank, a co-branded mobile wallet, as well as a suite of other financial solutions in Thailand.
Grab reported that through the new partnership, it marks the expansion of its mobile wallet to all ASEAN-6 countries, which are Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Philippines, and Thailand, cementing itself as the region’s “number one fintech player.” While sharing more details about the partnership, Reuben Lai, Senior Managing Director of Grab Financial, stated:
“In 2018, Grab Financial has established itself as Southeast Asia’s leading fintech platform, both in terms of Monthly Active Users (MAU) and Total Payments Volume (TPV). This partnership makes Grab Financial the first mobile payments platform to launch e-money-licensed payments services across ASEAN-6 and underlines the strength of our partnership-based strategy. By opening up our platform, we have attracted many of the leading players in the financial services industry and driven exponential growth for our business.”
Patchara Samalapa, President of KBank also commented:
“KASIKORNBANK has bold ambitions of becoming the digital bank of choice in the region. We look forward to developing innovative financial products together, which will put KBank in a position to tap into the rapidly growing digital economy across the region.”
Grab went on to reveal the partnership comes with a strategic investment from KBank, and is part of Grab’s ongoing fundraising round, which includes Toyota Motor Corporation, Microsoft Corp., Booking Holdings, Hyundai Motor Group, Oppenheimer Funds, and other global investors. Lai then went on to add:
“We approach the challenge of cashless payments from a consumer perspective. Users don’t want a separate e-wallet for every type of purchase. By opening up our platform to leading financial institutions, we ensure our users can go beyond the Grab platform and pay for all types of services, from streetside stalls to e-commerce, online services and financial services increasingly as well.”