WESTERN UNION EXPANDS

WESTERN UNION EXPANDS:

International Direct-to-Bank Money Transfers to bank accounts in India
 from U.S. and U.K.

MUMBAI, India – July 2, 2013 –The Western Union Company (NYSE: WU), a leader in global payment services, today expanded its offering of sending international money transfers from the U.S. and U.K. directly into most bank accounts in India. 

As part of the company’s international money transfer offering, consumers in the U.S.[i] and U.K. can now send direct-to-bank transactions to most banks in India online—via the company’s transactional websites and, in the U.S., via its smartphone application—or by visiting thousands of participating Agent locations. Additionally, U.S. and U.K. consumers who have a non-resident bank account in India can use Western Union to send money into these accounts.

Officiating at the formal announcement ceremony in Mumbai, India today, Western Union’s President and Chief Executive Officer, Hikmet Ersek said, “Our goal is to serve our consumers anytime and anywhere.  To achieve this, we are pursuing a multi-product, multi-channel strategy to enable consumers to manage their finances the way they want.”

Ersek continued, “It is a phenomenal achievement for Western Union consumers to be able to send international money transfers directly into bank accounts in up to 48 countries, now including India.

Western Union’s direct-to-bank product cements the company’s advancement into the bank remittance segment—where based on company analysis approximately 42 percent of all international money transfer recipients have received remittances directly into a bank account, with the remainder being cash.

Today, consumers can use the Western Union^® Agent network in 20-plus countries across Asia Pacific, Europe, Middle East, and North America and its digital westernunion.com sites in 23 countries to send money directly into the majority of bank accounts in up to 48 countries, depending on country-specific regulations.

The expansion gives Western Union direct-to-bank coverage within 10 of the world’s top 15 remittance receiving countries—including India, China, Philippines, Pakistan, and Vietnam in developing economies and France, Germany, Spain, Belgium, and the United Kingdom in developed economies