Western Union expands real-time account-based payout

By Pavithra R

Western Union, a global leader in cross-border, cross-currency money movement and payments, has expanded its global digital network for funds payout and increased the availability of real-time payouts, accelerating the company’s goal of building funds collection and distribution network to meet the growing customer demand for transparency, immediacy, and reliability.

The firm has also expanded its account-based payout options, including bank account, wallet, or card payout in over 120 countries with real-time payment speeds in 80 of these countries. 

“We are making it easier to make payments cross-border in real-time for an expanding array of consumer and business needs across the world by building an expansive funds collection and distribution network. We are making the experience leaner, faster and less complex for consumers, businesses, and our partners. By leveraging a combination of cross-border connections and our unmatched platform strengths, including global processing, compliance, and settlement capabilities, we can meet the increasing demand from global consumers and businesses for fast, transparent, and reliable cross-border real-time payments,” said Western Union President of Global Network Jean Claude Farah.

WU’s expansion of its global network for real-time money movement and payments puts the company at the forefront, of the real-time payments ecosystems.  The capability is available for the firm’s customers and clients across its branded, co-branded partner, and white-label partner money transfer & payments businesses. The company aims to enable 100 countries for real-time capability by the end of 2020.

“Our cross-border real-time money transfer and payment capabilities are offering more connections across the international payments landscape, especially in developing and emerging markets. This expansion is vital to our business growth and critical for unlocking opportunities for global economic progress, especially during the current landscape,” added Farah.

Established since 1851, Western Union is a cross-border, cross-currency money movement and payment provider. According to company data, WU’s network includes over 550,000 retail agent locations offering its branded services in more than 200 countries and territories, with the capability to send money to several accounts. It’s global account payout network now includes access to more than 4B bank accounts, cards and wallets across every continent in the world.