Guide: How to add a credit card to a second phone

It used to be that adding your credit card to a mobile wallet like Apple Pay or Google Pay was simple: just key in the details, and verify yourself with an SMS OTP.

Not anymore.

Back in February 2025, the Association of Banks in Singapore (ABS) announced tighter controls to combat so-called “card provisioning scams”, where a victim’s card is fraudulently added to a scammer’s mobile device, then used to make unauthorised transactions. 

Since then, banks have been implementing additional hoops to add cards to mobile wallets, which can range from minor inconvenience to big problem if you want to add your card to more than one phone.

In this post, I’ll cover the process for each bank, and highlight the ones where you might encounter issues.

Why would you add your card to a second phone?

But before we even get to that, if you’re not a scammer, why would you need to add your credit card to another phone in the first place?

I can think of several legitimate use cases:

• You’re trying to hit a minimum spend on a card, but can’t spend enough by yourself
• Your family members don’t qualify for cards, or have absolutely no knowledge of the miles game, and you want them to spend on yours instead
• You and your partner want to consolidate all the points you earn into a single account
• You and your partner each have a UOB Lady’s Card and want to utilise each other’s bonus categories
• You have multiple phones or devices that support mobile payments

Sure, some of these issues could be solved by getting a supplementary card, but that entails time and paperwork. Besides, in the case of American Express cards, giving someone a supplementary card actually disqualifies them from future new-to-card welcome offers!

Of course, it’s worth highlighting that adding your credit card to a mobile device that’s not yours is conceptually the same thing as handing over your physical card. You should only be doing this with people whose motives (and competence) you trust completely, because if something goes wrong, you might be liable for any expenses incurred.

Bank-by-bank rundown

Here’s an overview of which banks — or technically card issuers, since there are names like Chocolate here (can’t have a bank run if you’re not a bank!) — support which platforms. 

Bank	Apple	Google
	✅	✅
	N/A
	❌	✅
	❌	✅ (MC only)
	✅	✅
	✅	✅
	✅	✅
	✅	✅
	✅	✅
	✅	❌
	✅	✅
	✅	✅
	✅	✅
	✅ (Ex-AMEX)	✅ (Ex-AMEX)
	✅	✅

Verified by OTP

When adding cards to a mobile wallet, the following issuers send an OTP to the cardholder’s registered email or mobile number.

• American Express
• Chocolate
• CIMB
• Instarem
• Maribank
• Trust (sent by SMS for Apple Pay, generated in-app for Google Pay)
• YouTrip

Therefore, adding a card to a second phone is really no more difficult than the first.

Verified by OTP (requires prior activation)

The following issuers also verify cardholders via OTP, but as an added security measure, you first need to tweak some settings in the mobile app.

After this, you’ll receive an SMS OTP which you can use to add the card to the second phone.

DBS

To add a card to a mobile wallet, you must first log in to digibank > More > Manage Cards & Loans > Payment Controls > Enable ‘Mobile Wallets’ (this control will be automatically disabled after 10 minutes).

Maybank

To add a card to a mobile wallet, you must first log in to the Maybank2u SG app > Accounts > Cards > Enable SMS OTP.

Verified by website

With UOB, cardholders have the option to “verify on website”, which opens a link to the internet banking portal on the mobile browser. A push notification will be sent to the mobile app on the first phone, and once approved, the card will be provisioned on the second phone.

If this doesn’t work, remove the card, add it again, and verify through the website in a single session (i.e. don’t try to verify with app first, then website).

Verified by mobile app

When adding cards to a mobile wallet, the following issuers require cardholders to verify themselves through a push notification to the mobile app. 

• Citi
• HSBC
• OCBC
• Standard Chartered

But here’s the problem: the notification will be pushed to the mobile banking app on the second phone. And of course it will fail, because of the mismatch between the account and the card you’re trying to provision.

So you can’t actually verify Citi, HSBC, OCBC or Standard Chartered cards through the mobile app, unless you reinstall and bind the security token to the second phone.

Alternatively, you can call up the bank and inform them that you wish to add your card to a mobile wallet (they will be able to see from their side that you have a card pending provisioning). This should be completed within 24 hours.

Conclusion

Adding your credit card to a second phone is still possible, but with the added security measures, it’s not quite as simple as before. 

It’s going to be particularly troublesome for Citi, HSBC, OCBC and Standard Chartered cards, where the push notification for verification will be triggered on the second phone. Therefore, you’ll either have to unbind the banking app from the first phone and rebind it with the second (troublesome), or give the bank a call and wait around 24 hours. 

Any other experiences adding a card to a second phone or device?