Singtel adds virtual Visa account to Dash app

Singtel has introduced a new virtual Visa account on its all-in-one mobile payments app Dash.

New and existing Dash customers now receive a Dash Visa Virtual Account that can be used for mobile payments at over 50,000 merchant points across the island.

To start paying on their mobile, customers can sign in on the Dash app and top-up their Dash Visa accounts and start using them at Dash merchants and on local e-commerce sites such as Qoo10, Zalora and HungryGoWhere.

Customers with compatible NFC-enabled Android smartphones will also be able to pay using their Dash Visa accounts wherever Visa payWave is accepted.

Singtel also announced future plans for Dash to be included in global wallets such as Apple Pay, and enable QR code payments to expand into hawker centres. In addition to Nanyang Polytechnic, Ngee Ann Polytechnic and Singapore Polytechnic, Dash is also working towards adding more educational institutions to its merchant list to widen its reach in the youth segment.

But Forrester predicts that the future of mobile wallets will go far beyond mobile payments. Chinese digital juggernauts Alipay and WeChat have morphed their mobile wallets into rich customer engagement platforms. But even then, these functionalities will by no means guarantee their success in markets outside China.

In a new report, Forrester senior analyst Xiaofeng Wang said market-entry obstacles like different business cultures, consumer behaviors, and regulations make it unlikely that Alipay and WeChat will operate directly in other markets beyond targeting Chinese travelers.

However, the successful marketing use cases developed on Alipay and WeChat Wallet will inspire third-party players like Apple and PayPal to morph their mobile wallets into more powerful customer engagement platforms.

Wang lists three trends that will shape the mobile wallet market in the future. Emerging mobile wallets will develop features similar to Alipay and WeChat. “We expect mobile wallet innovations to happen more quickly in emerging markets with less legacy and competition. Paytm in India is a good example,” she elaborated.

Mainstream mobile wallets will add customer engagement features. For example, to help its mobile wallet attract more traffic to offline stores, PayPal added features like “stores nearby” and “order ahead.”

Space will open up for third-party providers. The West’s different ecosystem creates added competition for its mobile wallet players, and gives third-party providers opportunities to add customer engagement features and offerings to Western mobile wallets and uncover the potential of marketing.