Western Union Extends USSC Agent Agreement in the Philippines
January 29 2015 - 8:00AM
Business Wire
The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU), a leader in global payment
services, announced that it has extended its agreement with its
largest Agent in the Philippines Universal Storefront Services
Corporation (USSC).
The leadership team of Western Union is
very happy to extend their relation with long-time partner Agent,
USSC to continue to deliver excellent Western Union(R) Money
Transfer(SM) service. In the photo (left to right): Jeffery
Navarro, Director for Business Development in the Philippines,
Western Union; Patricia Riingen, Senior Vice President for South,
East Asia and Oceania, Western Union; Hikmet Ersek, President, CEO
and Director, Western Union; Eckie Gonzales, President and CEO,
USSC; Jean Claude Farah, President, Middle East, Africa, Asia
Pacific, Eastern Europe & CIS, Western Union; and Reynaldo Go,
COO of USSC. (Photo: Business Wire)
The Philippines is an important market for Western Union since
it started offering services in the country in 1990. Remittance
services are a critical lifeline for many of the approximately 10.4
million Filipino diaspora living outside of the country2 as they
seek to support their families back home.
The contract extension signals the continued effort of both
companies to offer millions of Filipinos quick and easy access to
remittances, both in populated and underserved areas.
“When USSC became an Agent of Western Union twenty years ago,
the company slowly transitioned from one anchored on
telecommunications and transactions to one founded on valuable
financial services and an expanded relationship with under banked
Filipinos both here and overseas. Today, our customer-centric
perspective presages future success in delivering valuable services
to our economically aspiring customer base,” said Eckie Gonzales,
President and CEO, USSC.
“Together with agents like USSC we are able to uphold our
commitment to being one of the world’s premier financial services
providers for consumers in remittance receiving countries such as
the Philippines,” said Jean Claude Farah, President Middle East,
Africa, Asia Pacific, Eastern Europe and CIS, Western Union.
According to the World Bank’s recently published “Little Data
Book on Financial Inclusion”, only 20 percent of adults in rural
areas and 37 percent in urban areas in the country have bank
accounts. For the population that does not have an access to a
banking system, often the services provided by Western Union and
USSC will become a critical first step towards financial
inclusion.
“USSC’s network of over a thousand locations in the Philippines
is an important part of our global network providing consumers with
convenient access in urban and rural settings while our reliable
and timely money transfer services give the Filipino community the
freedom to realize their dreams, and build better lives,” Farah
commented.
In spite of the Philippines being a widespread archipelago,
Western Union service is available through over 8,500 agent
locations3 in all its 144 cities and nearly all 756 municipalities
and 81 provinces.
About Western Union
The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU) is a leader in global
payment services. Together with its Vigo, Orlandi Valuta, Pago
Facil and Western Union Business Solutions branded payment
services, Western Union provides consumers and businesses with
fast, reliable and convenient ways to send and receive money around
the world, to send payments and to purchase money orders. As of
September 30, 2014, the Western Union, Vigo and Orlandi Valuta
branded services were offered through a combined network of over
500,000 agent locations in 200 countries and territories and over
100,000 ATMs and kiosks. In 2013, The Western Union Company
completed 242 million consumer-to-consumer transactions worldwide,
moving $82 billion of principal between consumers, and 459 million
business payments. For more information, visit
www.westernunion.com.
About USSC
Universal Storefront Services Corporation (USSC) is a Philippine
company that operates a nationwide network of over 700
company-operated locations offering retail services to two million
customers, on behalf of principals in remittance, air and sea
ticketing, bills payment, cell loading, microinsurance and parcels.
USSC has been Western Union’s Agent of the Year four (4) times,
Cebu Pacific’s Billion Peso producer twice, and is the top
transaction producer for BayadCenter. For more information on USSC
visit www.ussc.com.ph.
1 Source: According to the World Bank, India remained in the top
spot, with $70 billion in remittances in 2013. Other large
recipients were China ($60 billion), the Philippines ($25 billion),
Mexico ($22 billion), Nigeria ($21 billion), Egypt ($17 billion),
Pakistan ($15 billion), Bangladesh ($14 billion), Vietnam ($11
billion) and Ukraine ($10 billion).
http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2014/04/11/remittances-developing-countries-deportations-migrant-workers-wb
2Source: Commission on Filipinos Overseas, December 2012
3Source: Network data as of 30 September 2014
WU-GWU-F
Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available:
http://www.businesswire.com/multimedia/home/20150129005261/en/
Western UnionKristin Kelly, +1 720-332-4751kristin.kelly@westernunion.com
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