Grab rolls out online payment check-out, to launch credit services and insurance marketplace

GRAB is launching upgrades to its mobile wallet GrabPay, postpaid payment services for customers, and more insurance options for its drivers and users as it eyes becoming the region's largest insurtech policy provider and fintech lender on a single platform.

On Tuesday, the Singapore-based firm rolled out an online payment check-out function called Pay with GrabPay that allows online sellers to accept GrabPay on their websites. The option is now available on e-commerce platforms such as Qoo10 and 11Street. Agreements have also been signed with merchant gateways including Adyen, Boku, iPay88, Dragonpay as well as brands such as Cathay Cineplexes in Singapore and SM Cinema in the Philippines.

Grab also launched a Point-of-Sale device integration function so that merchants can tap Grab's user base without having to change their hardware or sales and accounting systems. It will first be available in Singapore with merchants such as Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf and bakery chain Paris Baguette, following which it will expand this across the region.

The newly announced services are part of the "Grow with Grab" roadmap launched by the company during the Money 20/20 Asia conference in Singapore. The roadmap is part of Grab's ambition to possess a suite of services for micro-entrepreneurs and small and medium enterprises (SMEs), said the firm in a press release.

"We are doubling down on our financial services offering for micro-entrepreneurs with 'Grow with Grab'. This is a huge untapped opportunity for Grab Financial to support the region's entrepreneurs who are less able to access traditional financial institutions," said Reuben Lai, senior managing director of Grab Financial Group.

He added: "While SMEs contribute more than 50 per cent of Asean's GDP, two-thirds of SMEs cite business funding and financing as their biggest problem. The Grab app has served more than nine million micro-entrepreneurs over the last six years. As a result, we can leverage our scale and data insights to bring financial services products to market at a more competitive price point than anyone else."

Grab also appears to be aiming to mirror Alibaba affiliate Ant Financial's success in China. Under the "Grow with Grab" campaign, it will roll out Pay Later, a service that allows customers to pay for Grab services at the end of the month instead of immediately. It will launch first in Singapore in the next few weeks, following which it will be expanded to other countries.

The service is the first product launched under Grab's joint venture with Credit Saison, with users bearing no additional costs. In the coming months, the company will also launch a Pay Later instalment payment product to allow consumers to buy goods right away and spread instalment payments at no interest rate over multiple months.

Credit risk will be determined based on a set of criteria, including the user's tenure on the Grab platform, frequency of use and spending patterns. Rival Gojek already has a similar product called PayLater in Indonesia.

Following the announcement of its joint venture with Chinese insurtech firm Zhong An in January, Grab will launch its insurance marketplace in April. The company announced an insurance roadmap for 2019 that covers "pay-as-you-drive" automotive insurance with fractionalised premiums, allowing drivers to pay for insurance only when they are driving. It also covers micro-life insurance and critical illness insurance policies.