United Overseas Bank (UOB) has launched a new partnership ecosystem, making it simpler for customers to make payments on various apps and use rewards points to offset their utilities bills.
The bank has partnered Visa to use a new Visa application programming interface (API) that enables customers to add their Visa credit and debit cards securely into third-party apps using the UOB Mighty mobile banking app, without the need for a physical card.
This means that customers no longer need to manually key in their 16-digit card number, expiry date and card security code. In addition, new customers will no longer need to wait for their credit or debit cards to be delivered to them before they can make purchases.
All UOB credit and debit cards will be reflected on the UOB Mighty app once the card applications have been approved. Customers simply need to log in to the app and choose the card they wish to add to their preferred third-party app.
They will then be automatically directed to the selected app to confirm their choice.
The entire process can be completed within seconds on their mobile phones, UOB said yesterday.
From yesterday, customers could use this new service on Fitbit Pay with their UOB Visa cards. It will also be available on the Fave, Grab and Shopee apps for UOB Visa and Mastercard cards in the coming months.
UOB has also partnered energy utilities company SP Group to allow customers to offset their SP utilities bills, using the bank's rewards points, or UNI$. Through a UOB API used by SP, customers simply need to choose the option of using their UNI$ points when they make payment on SP's utilities app.
Customers therefore no longer need to redeem a voucher through the bank's digital banking services or wait seven working days to receive and use the voucher.
They can also now instantly redeem their rewards points on Singapore Airlines' KrisPay app.
The bank said it will progressively expand its network of partners to bring similar digital payments and rewards redemption solutions to more customers.
UOB head of group personal financial services Jacquelyn Tan said: "Whether our customers are banking on UOB Mighty or making payments on our partners' apps, our aim is to create an intuitive experience and to remove any disruptions or detours to their digital journey."
Mr Wong Yu Hsiang, head (products, sales and marketing) of SP Digital, said the company's collaboration with UOB adds to the suite of features on its SP Utilities app.
More than 700,000 households use SP's app to manage their utilities bills and to monitor their electricity consumption.
