Tag: Western Union

Remittances through post offices

Posted by | Jun 8, 2008 | |

The Postal Department is discussing with a remittance service and a private commercial bank to introduce remittance services in postal outlets.

The Department operates some 650 post offices and 3,500 sub-post offices islandwide.

The service providers with whom the Department is having discussions are Western Union (WU) Money Transfer Service and DFCC Vardhana Bank (DVB).

Posts Minister Mahinda Wijesekera speaking at the Postal Department Hqrs., Bldg., on Wednesday said that the necessary space available for such banking operations will be rented out to them.

The Minister said that the Department made a Rs. 2.3 billion loss last year. Its expenditure this year is forecast at Rs. eight billion, and next year, Rs. 10 billion.

“Such steps will help us to mitigate such losses through the rent income received,” said Wijesekera.

The Department has some 19,000 employees.

At present, still the main types of remittance service in the country are the traditional telegraphic transfer systems and bank drafts which are costly, WU Sri Lanka Marketing Manager Imran Carim told The Sunday Leader.

The Postal Department also has a tie-up with HSBC for credit card settlements.

“We will be negotiating with other banks, to get them also into this scheme,” Posts Ministry Secretary W.M. Piyasena told The Sunday Leader.

He said that the Department was talking to Moratuwa University and Dialog Telekom for networking of their branches and utility bills settlements, by the consumer making use of the Department’s islandwide postal network to make those payments which will be transmitted electronically.

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Western Union Appoints Stewart A. Stockdale EVP and President-US and Canada

Posted by | Jun 3, 2008 | |

The Western Union Company, a world leader in money transfer services, today announced the appointment of Stewart A. Stockdale to Executive Vice President and President of the United States and Canada region. Stockdale, 46, will join Western Union in late June.

“We are delighted to welcome Stewart to our leadership team,” said Christina A. Gold, president and chief executive officer of The Western Union Company. “Stewart has distinguished himself as an entrepreneurial business leader with significant financial services experience and a wealth of consumer marketing knowledge. His business acumen will be a tremendous asset to Western Union as we further develop our consumer franchise in the U.S. and Canada,” added Gold.

“This is an exciting time to join The Western Union Company,” said Stockdale. “The brand has a rich heritage, which will serve as a catalyst for future innovation and growth in the financial services arena.”

Since 2002, Stockdale served as chief marketing officer of Simon Property Group and president of Simon Brand Ventures. Simon Property Group is the largest publicly held real estate company in the U.S. He also served as executive vice president and chief marketing officer of Conseco, Inc., a leading provider of financial security for life, health, retirement and lending products and held global marketing and product development roles with MasterCard International and American Express. He began his career in brand management with Procter & Gamble.

David G. Barnes, 46, who has been providing leadership and direction on a variety of important initiatives including the U.S. and Canada business, will now be focused on the corporation’s overall strategy and accelerating Western Union’s growth initiatives. As the chief strategy officer, Barnes will drive M&A activity and strategic alliances for the company. He will also have responsibility for Western Union’s bank strategy. He will continue report to Gold.

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New technologies key to postal uplift – Posts Minister (Sri Lanka)

Posted by | May 30, 2008 | |

The Postal Department could be converted into a lucrative venture only through the introduction of new services and technologies in addition to its normal services, Posts and Telecommunication Minister Mahinda Wijesekara said yesterday.

He said with the implementation of the proposed plans, the income of the Postal Department could be increased to Rs. 1,000 million by 2010. Addressing the media at the new Posts and Telecommunication Ministry premises at D.R. Wijewardene Mawatha, Minister Wijesekara said the Ministry has drawn several plans to develop the Postal Department that will not burden the Treasury.

Wijesekara said according to recent statistics the Postal Department is one of the three departments managed at a loss. He said all problems related to the development of the Postal Department would be solved soon.

The Minister said by merely depending on ancient methods the Postal Department could not be converted into a lucrative venture as it is a service oriented business. Wijesekara said the Government is the main telecommunication provider and it will never give up the ownership of the Postal Department at any time.

The Posts and Telecommunication Ministry will sign an agreement with Western Union Money Transfer Company to promote the Department’s income standards. With the implementation of the agreement, foreign exchange transactions can be carried out through post offices in the country. This will become an additional income earning source to the Postal Department in addition to its normal business, the Minister said. The Postal Department has also focussed its attention on providing mobile phone re-loading facilities, he said.

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India is a priority market for Western Union

Posted by | Apr 26, 2008 | |

Western Union, one the largest players in the multi-billion dollar remittance market, is upbeat about the growth of money transfer business in India. Western Union offers services through an extensive network in assistance with banks, post offices, and retailers. In this interview Anil Kapur, MD – South Asia, Western Union, talks about the company’s journey so far in India and challenges ahead.

NDTV: Tell us more about your growth story in remittance business in India?

Anil Kapur: There are over 200 million migrants around the world and the remittance market is estimated at nearly USD 369 billion. India in the past five years has become the largest receiver of remittances anywhere in the world beating China, Mexico and Philippines. Western Union entered India few years back seeing the growth in emerging markets like India and China.

NDTV: Why do you shifted your focus towards India?

Anil Kapur: At the start of the decade a lot of people from small parts of India were finding it difficult to get employment opportunities within cities, so they started to migrate to foreign countries and that is where you started to see the boom of Indian population in various countries. At that time the rupee was weak and people were more attracted to go abroad and send money to India, which made us to start looking at the Indian market.

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Bank Pekao SA and Western Union Sign Agreement to Offer Money Transfer Service in Poland

Posted by | Apr 15, 2008 | |

Bank Pekao SA and Western Union have signed an agreement to make the Western Union(R) Money Transfer service available via the Bank Pekao network across Poland. The service launched this week through the Bank’s extensive network and is available for outbound and inbound transfers in nearly 900 branches, bringing the total number of locations where the Western Union money transfer service is available in Poland to nearly 5,000.

Bank Pekao SA is the largest commercial Bank in Central and Eastern Europe in terms of market capitalization, and the largest Bank in Poland with 5 million individual and corporate customers. The Bank is also a member of the UniCredit Group, which has a network of more than 9,000 branches in 23 countries, and 40 million customers.

Western Union is a leading provider of global money transfer services, providing consumers with fast, reliable and convenient ways to send and receive money around the world via a network of more than 335,000 Agent locations in more than 200 countries and territories.

According to the IMF, the remittance market in Poland was valued at approximately USD4,360 million for inbound and approximately USD787 for outbound in 2008.

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