DBS and Gojek further push digital payment with PayLah! partnership

Singapore’s financial services company DBS Bank has partnered with ride-hailing company Gojek to integrate Gojek’s services into its PayLah! platform. Aimed at boosting the adoption of digital payments, this partnership allows DBS PayLah! users to book and pay for their Gojek rides directly through the PayLah! platform.

This integration of services comes after an initial partnership between the two companies, which was inked in 2018 at the time of Gojek’s launch in Singapore. The partnership was kickstarted by allowing all of DBS and POSB customers to enjoy an exclusive early access to Gojek’s services. This was followed by the rollout of DBS Paylah! as a default in-app payment option in the Gojek app last year, which enabled users to tap on digital payments alternatives. Through this partnership, more than 100,000 Gojek rides were booked by PayLah! users in the first month of the launch, according to Gojek’s statement.

The statistics stated on the press release also pointed at the growing adoption of adoption of digital payments for ride-hailing, with Gojek’s daily ride-hailing transactions cash payments dropping from 35% to 30% from mid-2019 to mid-2020.  Additionally, it was also stated that education institutions remained common destinations among commuters who continued to choose to pay for their rides in cash.

Shee Tse Koon, country head of DBS Singapore said customers appreciated digital payment options during the ongoing pandemic where personal hygiene and safety was highly prioritised, adding that this was evident from the exponential increase witnessed in the adoption of DBS’s digital banking and payments services. “Ride-hailing is among one of the most frequently used services by our DBS PayLah! users. Allowing them to now conveniently book and pay for their Gojek rides via PayLah! further enhances their user experience as there is no need to toggle between apps," Shee added.

In response to the statistics on cash payments, Shee explained that commuters were likely tertiary students who received their monthly allowance from their parents in cash, adding that DBS Bank was working with tertiary education institutions on a financial literacy curriculum to teach students financial planning concepts and fundamentals of digital payments via its NAV Planner – a digital advisory solution.

Meanwhile, Lien Choong Luen, general manager of Gojek Singapore said the integration of services was timely and benefitted users of both PayLah! and Gojek. “Not only will it facilitate more convenient access to our ride-hailing service, it also strengthens the use of cashless payments among our commuters, which is key as we adapt to a new way of living where hygiene, health and safety have become paramount,” Lien added.

In June, Gojek Indonesia also brought onboard Facebook and PayPal to join the likes of Google and Tencent to its roster of investors in its most recent fund raising exercise. This new investment aims to support Gojek’s mission to boost Southeast Asia’s digital economy, with a focus on growing payments and financial services in the region. This was said to be in line with Gojek's vision and its commitment to serving small businesses and bringing them into the digital economy.

Separately, in April, DBS and Gojek extended support to Gojek’s driver-partners and the wider community in Singapore, comprising a three-part financial planning webinar series by DBS for Gojek driver-partners, which covered topics such as managing one’s personal finances and planning for their children’s education needs, enabling the instant transfer of earnings support funds to Gojek’s driver-partners during the circuit breaker period, and delivering care packs to 2,000 households in Singapore under the “PAssion CARES for You” initiative.

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