Google has recently added Standard Chartered Bank Malaysia Berhad to its digital wallet service, Google Wallet. Weirdly enough, this new inclusion was done rather quietly, with no announcements from either the bank or the tech giant. In fact, we only found out about this thanks to local tipster Kevin Ng TK, who shared this discovery via Twitter.
According to the official Google support page, this recent update to the list of supported banks in Malaysia now allows Standard Chartered users to utilise both their VISA debit and credit cards for contactless digital transactions done through Google Wallet. The bank is now officially the eighth bank to be included in the list since the digital wallet’s local introduction back in November of last year.
Just in case you missed it, Google Wallet initially supported only five local banks at launch. These comprise of CIMB, CIMB Islamic, Hong Leong, Hong Leong Islamic and Public Bank, with another two more to be added at a later date. The latter of which being HSBC and HSBC Amanah which was included in March this year, according to an official announcement by the bank itself.
However, do note that depending on your bank, you will only be able to use certain cards on Google Wallet. This is detailed quite nicely in the aforementioned list on Google’s support page but for your convenience, we’ve included a screenshot of it below so you can quickly scan through.
Once stored, the digital wallet will keep your credit and debit card details secure via the use of a tokenisation method, whereby transactions are made via an alternate card number that is device-specific and changes its security code with each transaction. And like all digital wallets, customers will only need to verify the cardholder before it can be added to an Android device.
It is also worth mentioning that this recent addition to the Google Wallet now exceeds the number of supported banks by its closest rival, Apple Pay. So far, the latter payment service’s list only includes AmBank, HSBC, Maybank, and Standard Chartered.
Thanks for the tip, Kevin Ng TK!
