Tag: Western Union

Western Union teams up with Bangladesh postal department for easy transfer of remittance

Posted by | Jan 29, 2008 | |

Western Union, an international money transferring company, has teamed up with Bangladesh Postal Department for delivering the money remitted by expatriate Bangladeshis to the villagers easily.

The Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications and the Western Union (WU) signed the five-year deal on December 12, 2007, Brigadier General (rtd) M A Malek, special assistant to the Chief Adviser, told journalists.

“As per the deal, we will launch our services through 450 post stations in Bangladesh in the first phase and the number of such postal WU money receiving points will be raised gradually,” according to Anil Kapur, WU managing director for South Asia, who was also present at the press meet.

Acting Posts and Telecommunications Secretary Iqbal Mahmood termed the agreement as a new dimension to the postal services.

“We have started delivering passport forms and I hope we will also be able to deliver passports from post offices very soon,” he said.

Special Assistant Malek hinted at renewal of the deal after expiry of its five-year tenure for continuation of the WU-Postal Department joint services to ensure ‘easy and timely’ delivery of remittances in rural Bangladesh.

Anil informed the journalists that Bangladesh is one of the top 15 remittance recipients across the globe.

As per official statistics, the country received nearly USD 6 billion as remittance from non-resident Bangladeshis (NRBs) last year and the contribution of such remittance to the gross domestic product (GDP) crosses 13 percent.

The regional top official of the international money transfer firm said at present 30 percent remittance comes from Saudi Arabia, 15 percent from the USA and more than 10 percent from the UK.

With only 100 points across the country at the onset of its operation, the WU has now set up more than 1400 points to receive money, Anil said while giving a resume of his company.

The WU’s share in global money transfer business is over 17 percent, he said.

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Globe Telecom and Western Union Join Forces to Deliver Money Transfers through Mobile Phones in the Philippines

Posted by | Jan 29, 2008 | |

The Western Union Company, Globe Telecom and its wholly owned subsidiary, G-Xchange, Inc., announced today that they will join forces to introduce a cross-border mobile money transfer service supporting low-principal, high-frequency remittances.

Globe Telecom, a leading telecommunications provider in the Philippines, offers its GCASH service with an “electronic wallet” feature that allows users to send and receive cash and make payments, including bill payments, donations and online purchases via texting. Globe Telecom had more than 19 million subscribers as of the end of September 2007 and close to half a million active GCASH users.

Once the Western Union(R) mobile money transfer pilot has launched, the service will connect operators to Western Union’s existing global money transfer system. Once connected to the Western Union service, operators will be able to use their own “mobile wallet” software to enable person-to-person mobile money transfers over Western Union’s cross-border remittance network. The Mobile Money Transfer service will enable consumers to transfer money to or from mobile wallets and will offer a global network of Western Union Agent locations for cash-to-mobile and mobile-to-cash transactions.

Mobile networks now cover more than 80 percent of the world’s population, and 3 billion people have a mobile phone,(2) creating a unique opportunity to extend the benefits of financial services to many of the world’s families for the first time.

The agreement with Globe is part of the pilot program of Western Union and the GSM Association, a global trade association representing over 700 GSM mobile phone operators, to facilitate the development of cross-border mobile money transfer services.

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SMART Communications and Western Union to Deliver Mobile Remittances in the Philippines

Posted by | Jan 29, 2008 | |

The Western Union Company announced today that it has joined forces with Smart Communications, Inc. (SMART), a leading wireless services provider in the Philippines, to jointly develop and pilot a Mobile Money Transfer service.

The service, which is being developed as part of the GSM Association’s Mobile Money Transfer strategic initiative, aims to make low-principal, high-frequency remittances available to the country’s more than 8 million Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs).(1)

SMART, which ended 2007 with more than 30 million subscribers, already has an established mobile financial service platform linking local bank accounts to mobile handsets, providing significant convenience for banked consumers. At the end of 2007, more than 7 million SMART subscribers were in the Smart Money system, close to 2 million of whom are cardholders. The company has agreements with five Philippine commercial banks and links to over 7,000 ATMs nationwide, more than 100 Smart Wireless Centers and thousands of third-party Smart Money fulfillment partners.

“More than 44 percent of households in the Philippines have a relative or family member working abroad,(2) and the mobile phone plays a tremendous role in keeping families connected,” said Matt Dill, General Manager, Western Union Mobile. “We believe there is a real opportunity to extend the reach of Western Union’s brand and service proposition to a new and more mobile consumer base.”

The number of immigrants globally is about 200 million – approximately 3 percent of the world’s population.(2) According to recent World Bank data, the Philippines is the fourth-largest receiver of remittances in the world and received an estimated $17 billion USD in 2007.

Once the Western Union(R) mobile money transfer pilot has launched, the service will connect operators to Western Union’s existing global money transfer system. Once connected to the Western Union service, operators will be able to use their own “mobile wallet” software to enable person-to-person mobile money transfers over Western Union’s cross-border remittance network. The Mobile Money Transfer service will enable consumers to transfer money to or from mobile wallets and will offer a global network of Western Union Agent locations for cash-to-mobile and mobile-to-cash transactions.

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Western Union Launches 50,000th Agent Location in India

Posted by | Jan 7, 2008 | |

The Western Union Company announced the opening of its 50,000th Agent location in India at the State Bank of India branch in Gurgaon, Haryana. To mark the occasion, Hikmet Ersek, EVP and MD, Western Union Europe, Middle East, Africa and South Asia (EMEASA), joined Gautam Kanjilal, Chief General Manager (Delhi), State Bank of India, for a special inauguration ceremony.

Western Union, together with its affiliates, Orlandi Valuta and Vigo, is a leading provider of global money-transfer services. Consumer demand for Western Union services has grown due to a rise in long-term global migration trends, which have resulted in increasing cross-border remittances. India is one of the world’s largest receivers of remittances with more than 26.9 USD billion remitted into India in 2006-2007, according to the Reserve Bank of India.

“India offers immense growth potential in the money-transfer business, and with the launch of the 50,000th location we re-emphasize our commitment to our customers in the country,” Hikmet Ersek said. “Money transfer is a very unique way of participating in the growth and development of a nation, especially in India where Indian Diaspora income is regularly channeled back into the country. Together with our Agents we aim to contribute to the development of the country by delivering fast and reliable money-transfer services to our customers. ”

Gautam Kanjilal, Chief General Manager (Delhi), SBI, said, “We highly value our relationship with Western Union and look forward to delivering even better services to our customers by working closely together.”

Speaking at the inauguration event, Anil Kapur, MD-South Asia, Western Union Services India Private Limited, said: “Western Union is expanding its services in India by increasing our reach as well as adding value to our service offerings. In November 2007, we announced a pilot Mobile Money Transfer Project in association with Bharti Airtel.”

Western Union has 50,000 Agent locations in India spanning over 5,000 cities, towns and villages. This includes more than 8,500 post offices and more than 14,000 branches of leading banks.

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Western Union and Scotiabank Agreement Brings the World Closer to Customers

Posted by | Dec 18, 2007 | |

Scotiabank, one of North America’s premier financial institutions and Canada’s most international bank, and The Western Union Company, a global leader in money-transfer services, today announced a pilot agreement to offer the Western Union(R) money-transfer service to Scotiabank customers in Canada.

Western Union and Scotiabank have begun a pilot to offer customers across 42 Scotiabank branch locations in British Columbia, the Prairies and Ontario the ability to send outbound money transfers to more than 200 countries and territories through Western Union.

Based upon a successful pilot offer of Western Union’s money-transfer service, Scotiabank will rollout the service across its national branch network and Scotia Online in late January, 2008.

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