SingTel, StanChart launch mobile money app

SINGAPORE — The battle lines have been drawn in the field of mobile commerce, with telco SingTel partnering Standard Chartered Bank to offer a service that allows users to shop, pay and perform banking transactions using their phones.

It is the latest in a slew of mobile commerce services that have recently been launched here, mostly by banks.

The service, available to subscribers from all local mobile operators, allows users to download cash into their phones via an application called Dash, which will be linked to their Standard Chartered savings account.

Users simply have to swipe their phones to transfer money to their friends using a patent-pending technology. Alternatively, users can also select a payee from their contact list.

SingTel said the app also allows users to use their phones to make contactless payments at participating retailers, where payment terminals have been modified to accommodate the service. The app also allow users to apply for almost instant personal loans and purchase travel insurance.

Last week, DBS launched a mobile wallet application called PayLah!, while OCBC’s Pay Anyone was introduced earlier last month and Maybank started its Mobile Money service late last year. All these services allow peer-to-peer instant transfers on smartphones.

As for mobile retail payments, the Infocomm Development Authority in 2012 rolled out a nationwide contactless mobile payment network that taps near field communications (NFC) technology, with a network of 30,000 acceptance points. But the service, which requires smartphones to be NFC-enabled, has so far failed to gain a critical mass of users.

SingTel believes Dash is a step above the rest in terms of innovation, owing to its myriad of functions that address different needs — mobile banking, mobile payments and mobile shopping. Dash is compatible with Android and Apple devices.

Mr Allen Lew, chief executive officer of SingTel Group Digital Life, said: “Dash is mobile money, its three products. Banking, of which the key value proposition is, you open your bank account straight from your mobile phone. No one has done that before.”

Analysts say mobile commerce is a growing market, and recent services that have been launched have addressed poor usability issues that have plagued such services. IDC research manager Thomas Zink put the recent launches down to the electronic interbank service Fast and Secure Transfers introduced in April, which allows transfers to be made almost instantly between banks.

“Recent mobile applications have more potential to crack the mobile commerce market than NFC because they are more user-friendly. They are also addressing real needs, such as allowing instant peer-to-peer transfers,” said Mr Zink.

“In putting a small limit on transfers and payments from these apps, it is also easier to manage from a risk perspective,” he added. He foresees that mobile commerce will take off more this year, though it will still form a small part of total retail sales.