Western Union to Launch Mobile Money Transfer Service with State Bank of India

ENGLEWOOD, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Western Union (NYSE:WU), a leader in global payment services, and State Bank of India (SBI), the largest commercial bank in India, today announced that SBI accountholders will soon be able to receive cross-border money transfers in their bank accounts using just their mobile phones.

“It is the world’s No. 1 remittance recipient country and received US$52 billion in 2009, according to the World Bank.”

In July, Western Union announced the introduction of the Account-Based Money Transfer (ABMT) service, to be launched in early 2011. This service will enable SBI customers with online bank accounts to pull a Western Union® Money Transfer^TM directly into their accounts via the Internet or an ATM.

The new mobile service will provide SBI customers with an additional option to direct a Western Union Money Transfer into their accounts anytime and anywhere.

“India is a key market for Western Union,” said Anil Kapur, Western Union’s Senior Vice President, South and Southeast Asia. “It is the world’s No. 1 remittance recipient country and received US$52 billion in 2009, according to the World Bank.

“Western Union has more than 61,000 Agent locations in India. As we continue to expand our network, this collaboration with SBI realizes our commitment to provide our consumers with the greater convenience of accessing money sent by their families and loved ones from overseas.”

Khalid Fellahi, Western Union’s Head of Mobile Transaction Services, said, “Western Union is committed to offering a wide variety of ways for our consumers to send and receive money. By leveraging our global ‘hub’ for moving money, we are able to continually offer new and innovative choices for SBI customers to transfer their money from Western Union directly into their accounts through mobile phones, online banking, ATMs and bank branches.”

SBI has 110 million accountholders, of which more than 4 million are registered for online banking. Western Union’s Account-Based Money Transfer service complements SBI’s nationwide network of more than 12,000 branches currently offering the Western Union Money Transfer service.

With this agreement with SBI, consumers will be able to send money from one of Western Union’s 380,000 Agent locations around the world to an SBI account.

Western Union also offers the Mobile Money Transfer service in the Philippines with Smart Communications and Globe Telecom; in Kenya with Safaricom; in Malaysia with Maxis; and in South Africa with Absa Bank. The company also recently announced an agreement with EnStream in Canada and has agreements with Tunisian Post and Bank of Commerce & Development (BoCD) in Libya. In addition, Western Union previously announced an alliance with Zain in Africa.

Currently, consumers can send Mobile Money Transfers from nearly 70,000 Western Union Agent locations in 25 countries and through www.westernunion.com in five countries.

About Western Union

The Western Union Company (NYSE: WU) is a leader in global payment services. Together with its Vigo, Orlandi Valuta, Pago Facil and Custom House branded payment services, Western Union provides consumers and businesses with fast, reliable and convenient ways to send and receive money around the world, as well as send payments and purchase money orders. The Western Union, Vigo and Orlandi Valuta branded services are offered through a combined network of approximately 430,000 Agent locations in 200 countries and territories. In 2009, The Western Union Company completed 196 million consumer-to-consumer transactions worldwide, moving $71 billion of principal between consumers, and 415 million business payments. For more information, visit www.westernunion.com.

About State Bank of India

State Bank of India with a 200 year history is the largest commercial bank in India in terms of assets, deposits, profits, branches, customers and employees. The Government of India is the largest shareholder with 59.73 % share holding. Recently SBI got the prestigious international award “Innovations in Banking Technology Award 2010” instituted by The Banker London. The Bank has also been conferred the Asian Banker Award “Strongest Bank in Asia Pacific Region” in a recently held function at Singapore. For more details visit www.statebankofindia.com.

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