Grab Malaysia receives e-money licence from Bank Negara

KUALA LUMPUR: Grab, Malaysia and South-East Asia’s leading e-hailing service, has received e-money licence for payments services from Bank Negara.

GrabPay managing director Jason Thompson said that with the licence, it can now link the service to stores and restaurants so that customers can benefit from the cashless service.

“GrabPay is built to help customers and merchants in emerging economies to go cashless and cardless. “GrabPay can now be used at our partnering merchants,” Thompson told Bernama on the sidelines of the Payment System Forum and Exhibition 2017 here yesterday.

GrabPay is Grab's in-application mobile payment system.

Thompson, who declined to name the collaborating partners, added that Grab obtained the regulatory approval from BNM two weeks ago. Meanwhile, he said another effort taken by Grab to encourage users to go cashless was to increase the points given to them compared to those who uses cash.

“Many Malaysians think that using cash is cheaper but it is the other way round.

“Hence, we want to show that with GrabPay, users earn more points when using e-payment versus the cash,” he said. Thompson said this was also in line with Malaysia's move to transform into a high-value and digital first economy. He also said that Grab, which had over eight million ready users and drivers, took data protection of its customers and drivers seriously. — Bernama