UOB Turns Smartphones into Mobile Wallets

Singapore-based United Overseas Bank has launched UOB Mighty, a new mobile application that converts an Android smartphone into an electronic wallet instantly, allowing consumers to make contactless payments in the country and worldwide.

For the first time in the Asia-Pacific region, UOB Visa credit or debit card holders who have NFC-enabled Android smartphones can make contactless payments with tokenized security by just tapping their devices at the point of sale.

Customers just have to launch the UOB Mighty app, choose the ‘Pay’ function, key in their PIN and tap to pay at NFC-enabled terminals.

Payments made through the app do not have limit except for the customer’s own credit or dedit card limit.

Aside from bills payment, UOB Mighty also allows customers to do daily banking transactions and transfer funds on the go.

The app, which was developed with consumers’ changing lifestyles in mind, also comes with a dining feature that offers several dining-related services such as a directory of over 3,000 restaurants.

It enables customers to search for restaurants, make bookings, submit reviews, and pay with the app or a physical UOB credit or debit card.

Mr Dennis Khoo, Head of Personal Financial Services, Singapore, UOB, commented, “Consumers are increasingly attached to their smartphones which have become an indispensable lifestyle device. At the same time, we have also seen contactless payments on UOB cards grow 67 per cent year-on-year. This is why we are offering our customers the option of making contactless payments, with tokenised security, through their smartphones at the point of sale - whether it is in a supermarket, coffee shop or at a petrol station. UOB is in fact the only bank in the world, outside of the United States, to offer such a service.”

Available for download on Google Play and the Apple App Store, UOB Mighty has already seen an average of 5,500 unique downloads per day since its soft launch on November 14, 2015.

UOB plans to offer the pay service for MasterCard cardholders early next year.