Dash: Instant payment and fund transfer

Dash is a collaboration between Singtel and Standard Chartered Bank. It is currently the only mobile payment app which allows users to pay brick-and-mortar shops on the spot, in place of dealing with a physical cashier.

Customers can pay a business by typing a counter code into the app, which identifies the point of sale. At many shops, this counter code is located on a sign next to the till.

Customers can also search for businesses that accept Dash and are near to their phone's location. They can then select the correct merchant from those results.

The customer then has to key in the amount to be paid, and click "Send", which will immediately credit the amount to the merchant. Users of the app can also make peer-to-peer transfers via phone number, or by simply having two phones in close proximity to each other.

The detection works based on a technology developed by Singtel's Group Digital L!fe.

It uses GPS location data and other identification indicators to pick up other Dash users in the vicinity. Once the phones have "discovered" each other, the sender will have to verify the details of the recipient before the money can be transferred.

QUICK FACTS

DATE LAUNCHED: June 2014

USER BASE: About 200,000 downloads over both Android and iOS platforms.

TRANSACTION LIMIT: The limit of the Pay Friends feature is $2,000 a day.

ACCEPTANCE POINTS: Over 20,000 points islandwide, at merchants such as 7-Eleven, SMRT and bubble tea chain Koi.

This article was first published on Aug 26, 2015.
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