DENVER & LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Sibos Conference – Western Union (NYSE: WU), a leader in cross-border, cross-currency money movement, today announced availability of its real-time cross-border platform to accelerate international consumer, consumer-to-business and business-to-consumer payments to eligible accounts, cards and digital wallets. The announcement marks an expansion of Western Union’s unique ability to leverage its core assets – including global settlement capabilities, network, compliance and technology systems – to enable international cross-border payments in minutes across multiple currencies.

Globally recognized for daily cross-currency management and settlement via its vast retail network across 20,000 corridors or pairs of countries for consumers in local currency, the company’s expanded money in minutes platform will now power next-generation cross-border payment experiences for consumers and businesses across a multitude of sectors.

“This is a prime example of how the global reach, inter-connectedness and speed of our platform generate a meaningful customer benefit that is difficult to replicate for cross-border transactions,” said Western Union President and CEO Hikmet Ersek. “Our unique cross-border platform cuts through the international complexities so customers can access their funds in real-time. As we expand from our roots in C2C remittances, we’re positioning ourselves as the platform that powers next-generation payment experiences for businesses and FIs for their diverse cross-border payments needs.”

Western Union’s consumer-to-consumer money in minutes cross-border payments capability is now active when sending to select banks or digital wallet providers in 17countries: Benin, Burundi, Cameroon, China, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and Uganda. As many as 100 countries are being assessed for enablement of real-time capabilities by the end of 2020.

Accelerating Access to Cross-Border Transfers In-Minutes

From remittances to e-commerce, payroll, real estate and travel, consumer and business expectations for cross-border money movement are changing, driven by the impact of digital on everyday life. Western Union’s platform is uniquely suited to manage the liquidity flows and payment processing needed to accelerate funds in-minutes while also providing consumers and businesses with visibility into the status of their transactions from end to end.

In addition to its expansive digital footprint, settlement and compliance infrastructure, and global retail network with over 550,000 agent locations across 200 countries and territories, Western Union has forged more than 40 banking and payment partnerships in over 100 countries. This robust network of relationships helps accelerate money movement between institutions and provides reliable connections for deposits to billions of customer accounts and digital wallets. As part of this ecosystem, Western Union International Bank (WUIB), an independent banking entity in Europe, plans to enable all European banking partners for real-time deposits during 2020.

Western Union also offers banks a portfolio of application programming interfaces (APIs) to integrate with its cross-border money movement platform, with the added benefit of Western Union’s treasury management, reconciliation and global compliance capabilities.

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About Western Union

The Western Union Company (NYSE: WU) is a global leader in cross-border, cross-currency money movement. Our omnichannel platform connects the digital and physical worlds and makes it possible for consumers and businesses to send and receive money and make payments with speed, ease, and reliability. As of June 30, 2019, our network included over 550,000 retail agent locations offering Western Union, Vigo or Orlandi Valuta branded services in more than 200 countries and territories, with the capability to send money to billions of accounts. Additionally, westernunion.com, our fastest growing channel in 2018, is available in more than 70 countries, plus additional territories, to move money around the world. With our global reach, Western Union moves money for better, connecting family, friends and businesses to enable financial inclusion and support economic growth. For more information, visit .

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