Mobile Payments

DBS and GO-JEK Teams Up in a Fight Against Grab in South East Asia

DBS Bank and GO-JEK today announced that the two parties have entered into a regional strategic partnership. The partnership will see the two companies work together on payment services ahead of GO-JEK’s arrival in Singapore and this will soon extend to other countries in Southeast Asia.

This new comes hot in the heels of Grab’s recent partnership with Kasikorn Bank in Thailand where both parties will jointly launch a local mobile wallet dubbed GrabPay by Kbank.

GO-JEK, whose investors include Google, Temasek, Tencent and Meituan Dianping, is set to launch its beta ride-hailing app in Singapore within the coming weeks and as part of this, DBS customers in Singapore will enjoy a slew of privileges.

“As Singapore’s leader in payments with over four million debit/credit cards in circulation and DBS PayLah! being the nation’s most popular mobile wallet, we are committed to making payments simple, seamless and invisible for our customers,” said Tan Su Shan, Group Head of Consumer Banking & Wealth Management, DBS Bank. “In doing so we are stepping up to partner with like-minded companies like GO-JEK, one of Southeast Asia’s most iconic technology companies, to build inclusive digital ecosystems for our customers.”

GO-JEK president, Andre Soelistyo, said, “This partnership makes perfect sense because GO-JEK and DBS are both so committed to providing the best possible consumer experience. By joining forces, we will be able to pool our resources as we focus on making life better for people in Singapore.”

Andre added that they will be launching the beta-ride hailing services for the week to come, emphasizing the need for an alternative to Grab, he shared that people are desperate for more choice in the sector. He expressed confidence that Go-Jek will be able to fill that gap.

UPDATE:Almost seemingly in response to this annoucement, Grab has also entered into a strategic partnership with UOB, read more here

Image Credit: GoJek