Touch ‘n Go Group (TnG), via TnG Digital Sdn Bhd, today has officially announced the expansion of the cross-border payments capability for its TnG eWallet to Singapore. This is achieved through its collaboration with Alipay+, the cross-border service of Alibaba Group’s own online payment solution operated by its affiliate company, Ant Group.
TnG says that the capability is only accepted by Singapore’s ComfortDelGro taxi services for now, with plans to further expand support to other Alipay+ compatible merchants in the near future. “ComfortDelGro is the operator of the largest taxi network in Singapore, operating about 9,000 taxis across the city,” said TNG Digital chief executive officer Alan Ni. “We view this as an excellent milestone to expand our payments proposition to Singapore and we’re extremely pleased to have been able to bring our users this added convenience and use-case.”
In the press statement, Ni adds that he expects users to enjoy using the TnG eWallet in the “exact same seamless way” in Singapore as they have locally, especially when more acceptance points are established in the neighbouring country. The company did not mention which or how many more potential merchants will be added for the time being. Based on TnG Digital’s official support page, local users can easily identify businesses outside of Malaysia that support the cross-border payment capability by spotting a sticker or display of the Alipay+ and TnG eWallet logo (shown above) on their premises.
Interestingly, the support page also lists Japan as a compatible location for cross-border payments. According to a report by Technave published back in 2020, TnG first introduced cross-border payment support in the country as part of an earlier collaboration with Alipay+ (then known as Alipay Connect). With over two years of closed borders due to the pandemic, it is uncertain whether the capability is still usable in Japan. Upon our enquiry, TnG told us that it will not comment on this until further notice and announcement.
Those who wish to utilise the cross-border payment service via the TnG eWallet app can access it by tapping Pay and then swiping up the “pay abroad via Alipay+” prompt on the bottom of the screen. However, keep in mind that you are required to be a verified user with a registered Malaysian mobile number and MyKad ID. A verification process will be prompted if users wish to utilise the service.
To commemorate this new collaboration, TnG eWallet users are offered with instant discount from RM4 and RM6 off their total fare when riding with ComfortDelGro taxis via the eWallet app until 25 June 2022. However, do keep note that the discounts are varied at different weeks and are also capped at the first 300 transactions daily.
(Source: TnG press release)
