Grab has announced the discontinuation of its GrabPay Card in Singapore and the Philippines, with all physical and digital card transactions ceasing from 1 June 2024. The Southeast Asian super-app stopped accepting new GrabPay Card applications from 1 April 2024, giving existing cardholders approximately two months to migrate their spending activity to other Grab payment products before the card becomes inactive.
Grab said it had observed much higher adoption and use of other Grab offerings, such as PayLater by Grab and GrabPay Wallet, and would concentrate on refining those products.
WHY THE CARD IS BEING RETIRED
The GrabPay Card, available in both physical and digital formats, functioned as a prepaid card linked to a user's GrabPay Wallet balance. It provided a mechanism for customers to spend their Grab credits at merchants outside the Grab ecosystem where the wallet itself was not directly accepted. Grab said other offerings, such as PayLater by Grab and the GrabPay Wallet, better catered to users' needs.
Grab attributed the decision to an evaluation of its existing financial services business.
PayLater is Grab's buy-now-pay-later product. The GrabPay Wallet is integrated into the Grab app across ride-hailing, food delivery, and grocery services.
ALTERNATIVES FOR CARDHOLDERS
Users who had relied on the GrabPay Card for spending outside the Grab ecosystem will need to use other payment methods for those transactions; in Singapore, Grab pointed users to the account and debit card offered by GXS Bank.
Grab's Singapore digital bank, GXS Bank, is a joint venture with Singtel offering savings and lending products.