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Grab Financial aims to boost financial inclusion in Southeast Asia by making its network of agents available more widely.

Grab Financial aims to provide financial access to millions who are currently un-banked. With more than 110 million downloads of its app and counting, Grab is confident it can become the biggest fintech firm in the region. 

«Southeast Asia is on track to become the fourth-largest economy by 2030, with the middle class jumping from 30 percent to 65 percent of the population,» Reuben Lai, senior managing director of Grab Financial, said in an interview with finews.asia. «However, only 27 percent of adults (less than 200 million) in Southeast Asia have a bank account.»

Attractive Yet Underserved Market

Although numerous banks and e-wallets have identified the rising middle class in the region, few have moved as fast as Grab Financial in providing access to financial services. The main reason is the lack of historical data.

«No banking history means you’re invisible to traditional financial institutions, which limits the consumer's means to grow his or her business, or take a loan for a house,» said Lai.

Four Pillars of Service

Grab Financial offers four pillars of services. The first is GrabPay, a mobile wallet solution. The second is GrabRewards, a  rewards programme with more than 600 partners. The third pillar is its Grab Agent Network. Here, its network of agents go offline to rural places to offer unbanked consumers access to services online. Lastly, there is Grab Financial Services, which offers loans, insurance and other financial services for consumers and micro-entrepreneurs.

What Grab found common among the unbanked, is their need for working capital. «What are these people borrowing for? We found it is mainly to expand or maintain their businesses – for example, changing their types and car maintenance,» said Lai.

«These are lumpy payments, so we help them amortise or smoothen the business payments. It’s a win, win, win,» Lai added. The triple win is created for app users when they get financing, for merchants on its platform, and for Grab when it is being used as an e-wallet.