Grab introduces new payment feature

Ride-hailing and mobile payments app Grab has introduced a new feature to allow passengers to transfer funds to one another.

Jason Thompson, head of GrabPay, said in a statement, the launch of the peerto-peer fund transfer feature is intended to promote the greater use by passengers of GrabPay credits or the cashless stored value option offered within the Grab app.

“Most Filipinos still do not have credit and debit cards. We’re very happy to have launched GrabPay Credits to serve more Filipino passengers. Now with peer-to-peer fund transfer available, we hope to encourage more passengers to expand the use of GrabPay as a mobile wallet. This holiday season, we also hope to open them up to exclusive offers and benefits from GrabRewards,” he said.

Despite the availability of multiple payment channels, he said most Filipinos still opt to have cash transactions.

“The fear of overspending hinders Filipinos from going cashless. As a result, they miss out on a lot of benefits and perks that add more value to every transaction,” he said.

To send money using the GrabPay credits, the user would need to scan the recipient’s QR (quick response) code if within proximity.

To transfer funds remotely, the user would have to key in the mobile phone details of the recipient.

Upon successful transfer of funds, the recipient would get a notification.

Aside from the peer-topeer fund transfer, Grab also introduced a new sixdigit GrabPay PIN as a second factor authentication to make the GrabPay mobile wallet more secure.