How Chinese ride-hailing app Didi is growing its financial services offering

Didi Chuxing, the China-based ride-hailing company with global reach, is offering accounts with prepaid debit cards to drivers in Brazil and Mexico. The company launched the offering on Wednesday in both countries as a means to build a financial services ecosystem for its drivers. Didi joins other ride-hailing services like Uber and Lyft that are adding financial services and products for drivers. Both Uber and Lyft , for example, have instant pay options for drivers. In a statement to Bank Innovation , a Didi spokesperson said the company's debit cards are just the latest in a string of financial services Didi has launched in various markets over the past two years, including an auto financing solution and wealth management products. The company created its financial services department in early 2018. Through the accounts, drivers get paid daily, and they can withdraw cash and make in-store purchases. In Brazil, Didi is partnering with Mastercard and PayPaxx to issue the cards. In Mexico, it is working with Oxxo, the largest convenience store in Mexico with about 18,000 locations . Drivers in Mexico can reload cards at any Oxxo location and can use their accounts to pay for their phones as well. Didi offers drivers the accounts, which track all billable activities, and debit cards as part of the new driver onboarding process. In Mexico, the re-loadable account linked to the debit cards is called Didi Cash, and the company hopes the partnership with local retailers will function as a de-facto bank for drivers who are unbanked or underbanked. Didi is using financial services as an incentives for new drivers as it expands its business to Latin America, particularly among people who don't use traditional banking services. In Brazil, almost one-third of the country's 209 million people are underbanked, while in Mexico more than half of the country's 129 million people are underbanked. In Brazil, Didi operates as 99, a Brazilian ride-sharing company it acquired in January 2018 Other ride-hailing companies are rolling out financial services for drivers as well. For example, in July, Uber launched a debit card in Mexico through a partnership with BBVA and Mastercard. In August 2016, Uber launched retirement accounts for U.S. drivers through the robo-adviser Betterment, which reportedly pulled in 2,500 accounts. Meanwhile, in March, Lyft launched Lyft Direct, a debit card option for drivers to receive instant payment and cash back on purchases like gas and food.

How Chinese ride-hailing app Didi is growing its financial services offering

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How Chinese ride-hailing app Didi is growing its financial services offering

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