In its drive to extend banking beyond traditional touchpoints, DBS/POSB today announced the addition of some 60 SPH Buzz newsstand outlets to its POSB Cash-Point network. With this expansion, DBS/POSB has effectively increased its POSB Cash-Point locations to around 880 islandwide. Together with DBS/POSB’s network, the bank now has over 2,400 withdrawal touchpoints in Singapore.
Introduced in 2013, POSB Cash-Point is a complimentary service that allows customers to withdraw up to SGD200 (in multiples of SGD10) with any item purchase, using a DBS/POSB card linked to their deposit account. POSB Cash-Point is already available at 7-Eleven, Cold Storage, Giant, Guardian, Jasons, Market Place, SingPost and Sheng Siong. (see appendix for further details)
POSB Cash-Point’s retailer mix is specifically focused on key shopping stops (newsstands, supermarkets, convenience stores, health & beauty stores) so customers need not go out of their way to access cash withdrawal services. The service also benefits retail businesses as it helps reduce their outlets’ cash holdings and in turn, the effort involved in handling cash – which includes the counting, transportation and depositing of notes.
Adoption of POSB Cash-Point by customers has seen unabated growth since it was introduced in 2013. The average number of POSB Cash-Point transactions conducted every month in 2016 has risen by 2.5 times since 2014. The average customer today is also starting to withdraw larger amounts per transaction via POSB Cash-Point – around SGD85 per transaction, a 70% increase compared to last year’s SGD50 per transaction. An earlier partnership with SingPost which began in 2011 also allows customers to deposit and withdraw up to SGD5,000 per transaction at its outlets. Some 111,000 cash transactions were conducted at SingPost outlets from January to November 2016, up 13% compared to the same period last year.
Mr. Jeremy Soo, Managing Director and Head of Consumer Banking Group Singapore, DBS Bank said, “We innovate with the aim of providing customers easy, simple and convenient solutions. Even as we pursue our digital agenda, we also understand the value of having a physical touchpoint nearby to fulfil our customers’ cash transaction needs. Our partnership with SPH Buzz is a continuation of a journey we have embarked on to innovatively expand our customer touchpoints islandwide. By leveraging our strong partnerships, we are able to increase our presence at strategic locations to make banking even more convenient for customers on-the-go.”
Mr Chua Wee Phong, SPH’s Executive Vice-President of Circulation and Chairman of SPH Buzz said, “We are very pleased to partner DBS to add banking convenience to the suite of products and services currently available at the SPH Buzz Pod outlets. With the launch of this new service, customers will have the added benefits of making purchases and cash withdrawals simultaneously so long as they own a POSB or DBS card with NETS facility. This expansion of new customer touchpoints is in line with our existing initiatives to improve accessibility and convenience.”
DBS/POSB also has the largest base of online banking customers in Singapore with more than 2.5 million iBanking users and 1.3 million mBanking users. DBS PayLah!, a mobile wallet introduced in 2014 to make peer to peer payments easier, now has more than 350,000 registered wallets. In addition, DBS/POSB’s customer mobile activity continues to lead the industry in Singapore and mobile banking accounts for over 60% of the bank’s more than 500,000 daily logins.
