Western Union and Viber to Provide Cross-Border Money Transfer Capabilities
February 04 2016 - 7:00AM
Business Wire
WU® ConnectSM Platform Continues Growth and
Expansion; Provides Viber Users the Ability to Send Money to More
than 200 Countries and Territories Around the Globe
The Western Union Company (NYSE: WU), a leader in global
payment services, and Viber, a leading mobile messaging app with
664M+ unique users worldwide, today announced an agreement to offer
a fast and simple way to send money to friends and family virtually
anywhere in the world from the convenience of the Viber app.
Leveraging the recently released WU® ConnectSM platform, the
collaboration between Western Union and Viber will focus on three
key areas:
- Send money around the world: In
this first release, Viber users in the United States will be able
to send up to US$499 for pickup at more than 500,000 Western Union®
Agent locations in 200+ countries and territories.
- A user experience for the messaging
world: Western Union and Viber have created a money transfer
experience that will start and complete within the messaging screen
of Viber users.
- Integrated solutions: The
solution leverages robust technology, foreign exchange conversion,
data management, as well as regulatory, compliance and anti-money
laundering infrastructure, to expedite efficient and timely money
movement almost anywhere in the world.
“Through this alliance with Viber we continue our positive
momentum to increase the number of ways to move
funds into our global FinTech cross-border platform,
expanding our digital omni-channel network,” said Hikmet Ersek,
President and CEO, Western Union.
“Our users are already using Viber to stay in touch
with friends and families worldwide, so the ability to send
money to loved ones through the app is a natural next step,” said
Michael Shmilov, Chief Operating Officer, Viber. “Viber’s alliance
with Western Union is our first step into this
direction and it gives our users a new way to quickly and
conveniently send money to friends and family.”
Launched in 2015, the new, innovative API-based WU Connect
platform enables third-party digital platforms to integrate with
Western Union in order to provide a seamlessly integrated global
money transfer experience to their users. Consumers are able to
enjoy using their favorite social and messaging app while they send
money directly from the app. They could also fund the money
transfer utilizing debit card, credit card or bank account and
easily direct the funds to any participating Western Union retail
agent location around the world, a mobile wallet or a bank account
where available.
“The WU Connect platform offers an opportunity to create more
meaningful and engaging relationships for users of third-party
digital platforms and is really a win-win for both Western Union
and the companies we work with,” said David Thompson, EVP and CIO,
Western Union. “We are excited to integrate the WU Connect platform
into Viber’s messaging service and look forward to growing the
capability moving forward.”
For more information about the WU Connect platform or
integration opportunities, please email the WU Connect Business
Development team at WUConnect@wu.com.
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, 2015, 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, and included the
capability to send money to hundreds of millions of accounts. In
2014, The Western Union Company completed 255 million
consumer-to-consumer transactions worldwide, moving $85
billion of principal between consumers, and 484 million
business payments. For more information,
visit www.WesternUnion.com.
About Viber
Viber is a leading messaging, voice and video service that lets
everyone in the world connect. Freely. Users can send free text
messages, fun stickers, photos, videos and doodles, share
locations, make free HD-quality calls and communicate with
Push-To-Talk. With Viber Out, users can make low-cost calls to any
phone number around the world. Viber is available for iPhone®,
Android™ phones and tablets, Windows Phone, BlackBerry®,
Blackberry® 10, Windows®, Windows 8®, Mac, Linux and Symbian
devices, over 3G/4G or WiFi connections. With over 664 million
unique users in 193 countries, Viber is constantly innovating by
introducing new platforms and adding fun new features like Public
Chats. Viber is a Rakuten Group company.
WU-FWU-G
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version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160204005488/en/
Western Union GlobalBrad Jones,
+1-720-332-1262bradley.jones@westernunion.comorViber
GlobalCharlotte Panthercharlottep@viber.comorViber
USKate Lichtkatel@viber.com
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