Chinese ride-hailing app Didi offers banking services as it moves into Brazil and Mexico
- Didi is partnering with financial institutions to offer drivers in Latin America a bank card that allows them to receive income from daily rides
The privately-held company, which was last valued at US$56 billion and facilitates 30 million rides a day, said it would partner with financial institutions to offer drivers in the Latin American countries a bank card allowing them to receive income from daily rides, as well as withdraw cash or make purchases.
Riders in Mexico will also be able to top up their Didi balances with cash at Oxxo, the country’s largest convenience store chain.
“In Brazil, for instance, there are many people who can drive but they’re not able to become Didi drivers mainly because they’re unbanked. So we went ahead and started to offer banking services to them,” said Zheng Bu, head of Didi’s International Business Technology division.
“Yes we look at competition, but if you ask me what’s the most important, it’s serving our users,” said Zheng.
To win over new markets, Zheng said the company was spending a lot of time trying to cater to local needs.