DBS, ComfortDelGro Taxi in strategic payments partnership

DBS Bank and transport operator ComfortDelGro Taxi have partnered to enhance payment services for Singapore customers.

Users will now be able to book and pay for their ComfortDelGro taxi rides on DBS's PayLah! platform in-app. The same booking and payment functionalities are also available on ComfortDelGro's taxi-booking app.

ComfortDelGro Taxi chief executive Ang Wei Neng said in order to help stop the spread of Covid-19, both companies want to encourage customers to switch to using in-app payments such as DBS PayLah!.

Booking a taxi through their apps will also make contact tracing easier, he added.

Mr Ang said: "We are glad to be the first transport operator to have the ComfortDelGro Taxi booking app integrated into DBS PayLah! as we are always looking at ways to make taxi booking services more accessible to commuters."

Jeremy Soo, DBS's Singapore head of consumer banking group, said ComfortDelGro Taxi joins other companies on the PayLah! platform, such as cinema operator Golden Village, and restaurant-reservation booking platform Chope.

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DBS PayLah! was rolled out as an in-app payment in ComfortDelGro's taxi-booking app in March this year, allowing passengers to select PayLah! as a default quick response (QR) code payment option within the app.

In February 2020, both parties also collaborated to encourage commuters to use cashless payment for street-hail fares to facilitate contact tracing.

Mr Soo added: "As services gradually resume during Phase Two of Singapore's reopening, we hope to help boost demand for our partners with our contextualised offers, and will double down on enabling our technology capabilities to do so."

DBS and ComfortDelGro first partnered in 2017 to introduce QR code payment for taxi rides. Prior to the Covid-19 outbreak, DBS had recorded some 20 per cent of QR code transactions taking place within the transport segment, it said.

As at 10.43am on Thursday, DBS shares were trading S$0.40 or 1.9 per cent lower at S$20.70, while ComfortDelGro shares were trading S$0.01 or 0.7 per cent lower at S$1.54.