Singapore’s United Overseas Bank (UOB) has brought together like-minded partners – Fave, Fitbit Pay, Grab, Shopee, Singapore Airlines, SP Group and Visa – to simplify the way its customers make digital payments and redeem rewards points.

The bank has teamed up with Visa to be the first bank in the world to tap a new Visa application programming interface that enables customers to add their credit and debit cards securely into popular apps, without the need for a physical card.

This means that customers no longer need to key in their 16-digit card number, expiry date and card security code manually or if they are a new customer, to wait for their credit and debit cards to be delivered to them before they can make purchases on their card.

“We have seen an acceleration in digital payments adoption by consumers, especially since the pandemic,” says Kunal Chatterjee, Visa country manager for Singapore and Brunei. “Consumers are becoming more connected through digital wallets, IoT [internet of things] and e-commerce, and it is crucial to enhance the current user experience.”