Western Union Adds WeChat Capability to GlobalPay for Students
April 30 2018 - 8:00AM
Business Wire
Capability enables academic institutions to
simplify reconciliation of payments from Chinese students
The Western Union Company (NYSE: WU), a leader in global
payments services, announced today that it has added WeChat Pay to
its WU® GlobalPay for Students product, through its alliance with
Geoswift, a payment company specializing in payment solutions in
and out of China. The enhanced capability will enable academic
institutions to offer Chinese students studying abroad a wider
range of digital payment options including WeChat Pay, Alipay,
UnionPay and Tenpay, significantly improving their payment
experience.
Digital payments are embedded into everyday life in China:
payments through messaging app WeChat have risen from circa US$11.6
billion to an estimated US$1.2 trillion from 2012 to 2016,
according to a study by the United Nations1 while separate analysis
by Hillhouse Capital found that WeChat Pay accounted for 40% of
mobile transactions in China in the first quarter of 20172.
Given that in 2015 one in four international students globally
came from China, according to the Centre for China and
Globalization3, universities have an opportunity to capitalise on
this movement by offering international payment options which
better reflect the needs of these students.
“Mobile payments play a key role in the day-to-day life of
China’s digitally savvy population,” said Adam Tiberi, senior vice
president, strategy and product, Western Union Business Solutions.
“Being able to use WeChat Pay and other popular payment platforms
is crucial for Chinese students. As the largest international
student population in the world, Chinese students expect
universities to offer them simple and convenient payment
experiences. Our latest update to GlobalPay for Students allows our
education customers to provide an enhanced experience for their
Chinese students.”
“China accounts for about a quarter of international students in
the world,” said Raymond Qu, Founder and CEO, Geoswift Limited.
“The country is instrumental in shaping the trends for
international student payments. This poses a huge opportunity for
academic institutions across the world to attract Chinese students
by providing appropriate payment opportunities. We are delighted to
build on our existing alliance with Western Union to further enable
this opportunity.”
WeChat has become an integral part of Chinese people’s lives as
more and more adopt mobile payments over cash or other payment
types. WeChat provides extended partnerships with leading payments
providers across the world to enable universities to accept
payments via the app.
Western Union launched its enhanced GlobalPay for Students
platform in 2017 to enable academic institutions to more
efficiently reconcile, refund and track payments from international
students. Designed with an intuitive mobile-first user interface
and real-time payment tracking capabilities, GlobalPay for Students
was developed with the involvement of international students to
help improve the overall payer experience.
In addition to online bank transfer and credit card payments,
the platform offers users a wide range of online payment options in
over 30 countries, including Geoswift (Alipay, UnionPay and
Tenpay), POLI Payments, India Net Banking, Trustly and SOFORT.
About Western Union
The Western Union Company 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 December 31, 2017, the
Western Union, Vigo and Orlandi Valuta branded services were
offered through a combined network of over 550,000 agent locations
in 200 countries and territories and over 150,000 ATMs and kiosks,
and included the capability to send money to billions of accounts.
In 2017, The Western Union Company completed 276 million
consumer-to-consumer transactions worldwide, moving $82 billion of
principal between consumers, and 547 million business payments. For
more information, visit www.westernunion.com.
1
https://www.betterthancash.org/tools-research/case-studies/social-networks-ecommerce-platforms-and-the-growth-of-digital-payment-ecosystems-in-china
2
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/10/08/china-is-living-the-future-of-mobile-pay-right-now.html
3
http://en.ccg.org.cn/ccgs-annual-report-finds-returning-overseas-chinese-students-becoming-major-force-for-innovation-and-entrepreneurship/
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FleishmanHillard FishburnLouise McHenry,
+44-(0)208-618-1748Mobile:
+44-(0)7894-839-287Louise.mchenry@fhflondon.co.uk
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