Southeast Asia (SEA) is experiencing immense growth potential. With its raising mobile economy and increasing GDP, SEA becomes a promising market for mobile payments. Thus, Grab came to the region. Since then, Grab leads finance payment transformation in SEA.
However, it still has an issue with its unbanked population. Approximately, 73% of the region’s population still unbanked.
Consequently, those people cannot access daily unlimited transactions provided by banks. They also cannot have proper savings for emergencies and personal development. Besides, without access to credit companies also face difficulties to grow. Especially small businesses, they struggle to scale without funds invested in them.
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The solutions provided by Grab
With an ambition to improve SEA situation, ride-hailing giant, Grab, serves the region. In March, its fin-tech unit, Grab Financial Group, announced a host of financial services of Singapore. The services include micro-insurance service and lending for small and medium-sized enterprises. Besides, it also provides postpaid products.
Initially, Grab created its mobile wallet, GrabPay. It aimed to address the challenges of cash in the region. However, later, Grab also established partnerships with financial institutions.
For instance, the ride-hailing giant corporates with Indonesian digital wallet Ovo, US insurance company Chubb, and Japanese financial services firm Credit Saison. Moreover, its payments partner in Indonesia, OVO, has become the top digital wallet in the archipelago.
The solutions provided by Grab does not stop there. The ride-hailing giant also provides micro-insurance plans. The insurance is offered for its driver-partners. For instance, it helps them avoid the high cost of annual premiums. For the details, Grab allows them to pay toward their premium obligations every time they take a ride on the Grab app.
Also read: Grab Adds GrabBajay Feature in Indonesia
The company, later, extended its approach to lending services for its drivers partner. To determine their creditworthiness, it looks at their minute-by-minute earnings. That different from monthly statements required by traditional banks.
Therefore, it easier for micro-entrepreneurs and small businesses to obtain funds.
