Western Union Builds upon Global Agent Network: Expands Direct-to-Bank Service to Include China and Canada

Company continues to address the needs of its core customer—the estimated 215 million people who live outside their countries of birth and send money back to their home countries

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Western Union Company (NYSE: WU), a leader in global payment services, continues to build upon its global Agent network, announcing today the expansion of its Direct-to-Bank service to include China and Canada.

“This latest digital expansion of our Direct-to-Bank service marks another successful buildup to global Agent network and our goal of offering consumers more ways to get money to more places”

The Western Union Direct-to-Bank service offers account payout options for receivers. China is the newest addition—customers there can now receive money into their bank accounts from the westernunion.com site in the U.K. Western Union money transfers, sent through Direct-to-Bank, can be directed to most bank accounts in China. This service will be extended to additional sending countries over the next few months.

Customers can also now send money to bank accounts in Canada via this service for the first time on westernunion.com. With this latest digital deployment, customers can send money through westernunion.com from 23 countries into bank accounts in up to 46 countries depending on country-specific regulations.

The service is also available to consumers at select Agent locations in 30 countries. The company plans to expand the availability of the Direct-to-Bank service to more Agent locations in more countries in 2013.

“This latest digital expansion of our Direct-to-Bank service marks another successful buildup to global Agent network and our goal of offering consumers more ways to get money to more places,” said Khalid Fellahi, senior vice president and general manager, Western Union Digital. “This service is a win-win – consumers like it because it’s convenient and easy to use, and it allows us to build even deeper relationships with existing customers and attract new ones.”

Western Union Digital’s core customer is the global citizen – someone who has connections and roots in more than one country. This large and growing segment represents an estimated 215 million people who live outside their countries of birth and send money back to their home countries¹. Large portions of this customer segment are banked and frequently send money to their friends and family for financial support and the Western Union^® Direct-to-Bank service helps address their needs.

Leveraging the Western Union global Agent network, Western Union Digital focuses on moving money through digital channels, which includes westernunion.com, account based money transfer, and mobile money transfer.

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 Western Union Business Solutions branded payment services, Western Union provides consumers and businesses with fast, reliable and convenient ways to send and receive money around the world, to send payments and to purchase money orders. As of September 30, 2012, the Western Union, Vigo and Orlandi Valuta branded services were offered through a combined network of approximately 510,000 agent locations in 200 countries and territories. In 2011, The Western Union Company completed 226 million consumer-to-consumer transactions worldwide, moving $81 billion of principal between consumers, and 425 million business payments. For more information, visit www.westernunion.com.

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¹ Javelin Strategy & Research, Reaching Underbanked and Unbanked Consumers in 2012: Strategies for Connecting with Mobile Financial Services, June 2012