Western Union Partners with Zūm Rails to support real-time cross-border remittances

By Puja Sharma

Zūm Rails has partnered with Western Union to support fast and efficient money movement between Canada and 200 countries and territories worldwide.

Integrating Zūm Rails APIs into Western Union’s network enables the company to drive the real-time movement of funds for Western Union customers using Interac eTransfer. With Interac eTransfer, customers can instantly fund their money transfers in Canada and then send the money to anywhere in the world.

With the rise of real-time payments and other digital experiences, consumers have become accustomed to sending and receiving money in seconds. However, speed is dictated by the payment rails technology integrated into a financial institution’s network. While new options have emerged to facilitate real-time transactions, building the technology to integrate these rails and support compliance protocols into existing infrastructures requires significant time and resources.

“Our work with Western Union reflects a larger trend across the payments industry, defined by real-time money movement as a non-negotiable service for consumers and enterprises alike,” said Miles Schwartz, CEO at Zūm Rails. “Partnerships between traditional financial institutions and FinTechs are proving to be a catalyst in accelerating this trend. Western Union is in a unique position to lead the industry forward, leveraging its technological innovation and its deep history in the cross-border remittance industry. We look forward to working with them to support their efforts in delivering an exceptional customer experience.”

A recent survey conducted by Interac found that nearly nine in 10 Canadians (88%) have used Interac e-Transfer. Canadians continue to rely on this product to move $338 billion over the past 12 months, and over $625 billion since the pandemic began, with 49% indicating that they have increased their use in this period.

“Consumers should be able to send payments anywhere in the world at the same speed as they can with native peer-to-peer applications. Our work with Zūm Rails makes this a reality,” said Ranjit Sarai, Vice President of Digital and Ecosystem at Western Union in Canada. “That is only part of what we have in store for Western Union customers as we work to bring a number of entirely new digital financial experiences to market, to complement the reliable service they’ve come to expect.”