Grab has secured a partnership with Thai financial conglomerate, Kasikornbank, to launch their co-branded mobile wallet, GrabPay by KBank for users in Thailand.
Making the announcement on 8 November, Grab said this move brings their e-payment services into all 6 major ASEAN markets: Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Philippines and Thailand.
With the partnership, Kasikornbank also invested US$50 million in Grab during the firm’s latest funding round, together with investors like Hyundai and Kia which pumped in a combined US$250 million.
When GrabPay by KBank rolls out on the Grab app in early 2019, customers in Thailand can use it to pay for rides and delivery, transfer funds, and make QR-code payments in restaurants and shops.
Thailand’s national e-payments scheme, PromptPay, will enable all merchants using QR-codes to immediately accept GrabPay by KBank upon activation.
Beyond the in-app mobile wallet, Grab and Kasikornbank have plans to introduce a host of other financial solutions starting 2019, including integrated features across the bank’s K PLUS app and the Grab app.
They will also jointly offer products to their customer bases, like loans and access to Grab for Business, to help merchants grow their businesses and tap on Grab’s advertising solutions.
Since the inception of Grab Financial Group in March 2018, GrabPay has been swiftly expanding its services throughout Southeast Asia within just 6 months.
It most recently launched to the Philippines in September, after being awarded the e-money license from Banko Sentral Ng Pilipinas.
“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),” said Grab Financial Senior Managing Director, Reuben Lai.
“This partnership [with Kasikornbank] 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.”
Featured Image Credit: Grab