Thursday, 25 April 2024
ERA Singapore partners with LytePay and Rapyd to launch first business wallet and payment card for RES in Southeast Asia
Rapyd, a global fintech-as-a-service company, and LytePay, a Singapore-based financial solutions provider for self-employed, have announced their collaboration to launch a first-of-its-kind business wallet and a complementary Mastercard payment card for local-based real estate salespersons of ERA Singapore, the largest international real estate agency in Singapore.
Real estate salespersons (RES) typically wait two to six months after a deal’s closure to receive their commission payouts. The new business wallet, also known as LytePay, allows RES to instantly cash out their sales commissions with the embedded service called LyteMoney, saving months of waiting. In addition, they can use the app to gain insights into income data, invoice clients, and in the coming months, contribute to retirement funds, purchase health insurance and more. This is the first such service for real estate agents in Southeast Asia.
According to the Council for Estate Agencies, there are more than 30,000 licensed RES in Singapore. They do not enjoy the same benefits and income stability associated with full-time employees and could benefit from services such as LytePay.
“We are always looking to help our teammates navigate the fast-changing COVID-19 landscape. Improving their cash flow will go a long way in alleviating the ongoing burden of running their own business. Real estate salespersons usually re-invest up to 25% of their income back on business expenses, such as marketing or promotional costs. We hope to empower our teammates to create more sales, capture opportunities faster and serve their clients better,” ERA Singapore CEO Jack Chua said.
Aside from the LyteMoney cash-out service, the business wallet also comes with a payment card powered by Rapyd. The card, called Lyte Talent Card, enables RES to use their yet-to-be-paid commissions anywhere Mastercard is accepted. With the card, RES can also track and pay for their business expenses, such as staging a client’s home for viewing as well as paying for listing fees on property marketing platforms.
“Property agents in Singapore range from those who make a decent living to those who are just making ends meet. Neither groups get access to financial services that employees or small businesses enjoy, mainly because their income is variable. By using data science and fintech, we want to help all property agents make more money and live more assured lives. We choose Rapyd to be our partner to fulfil this vision with their technology and geographic coverage, and we are proud to be able to impact lives with ERA across the region,” LytePay co-founder Dennis Goh said.
In addition, Joel Yarbrough, Rapyd’s vice president for Asia Pacific, said, “Rapyd’s Card Issuing platform helps innovators like LytePay and ERA create opportunities for new user segments in a simple and innovative way. Making income available more quickly is always great, but it is particularly essential now during the pandemic. We are excited to be a part of speeding up funds to property agents through our partnership with LytePay.”
“Mastercard is proud to be collaborating with Rapyd in developing this innovative new solution to drive faster commission payments within the real estate market. Through Mastercard’s Fintech Express, Rapyd has been able to leverage Mastercard’s capabilities, expertise and network to strengthen and expand its card issuing capabilities, and today’s announcement demonstrates the power of that partnership. Combining Mastercard’s global payments network with Rapyd’s digital payment solutions for freelancers and SMEs is a model example of how collaborations across the payments ecosystem unlocks new financial possibilities for people and businesses,” Rama Sridhar, executive vice president of digital and emerging partnerships & new payment flows for Mastercard Asia Pacific, said.
This first-of-its-kind business wallet is one of the digitalisation initiatives in Singapore to accelerate financial inclusion across all segments of society. Through initiatives like this, ERA, LytePay and Rapyd hope to help RES thrive in Singapore.
Re-disseminated by The Asian Banker
