ENGLEWOOD, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Western Union Company (NYSE: WU), a leader in global payment services, and Walgreens (NYSE: WAG) (Nasdaq: WAG), the nation’s largest drugstore chain, have launched quicker and simpler international and domestic money transfers through a new Western Union stage-and-pay kiosk model via the Walgreens BalanceTM Financial platform.
Effective immediately, customers can conveniently send or receive money at more than 7,650 Walgreens and Duane Reade locations in 49 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The transaction can be initiated at a kiosk using a photo touchscreen and finalized immediately or at another convenient customer time on the same day. The service is available at Walgreens stores between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m.
The Walgreens roll-out follows Western Union’s multi-year agreement signed with the national drugstore leader last year. The additional locations will also expand the Western Union® U.S. agent location count to more than 50,000.
According to Odilon Almeida, President of Western Union, Americas and European Union, “Western Union’s advanced point of sale model enhances access and experience by simplifying process, granting control and facilitating speedy service end-to-end for customers, as well as retail agents.
“We are bridging retail experience with digital innovation delivering upon our omni-channel strategy, while making it simple and fast for our customers. We are pleased to be rolling out this breakthrough service model in collaboration with Walgreens,” Almeida said.
“Customers trust us to move their money across the globe and in return they are expecting customized treatment and recognition. We are listening to them and have raised the bar in offering self-service experience along with built-in compliance capabilities,” he said.
With this new offering, consumers will experience accelerated transactions by using the self-serve kiosk to independently fill out their transactions. From the retailers’ perspective, it provides additional convenience to customers, facilitates digital compliance checking and efficient check-outs.
Western Union plans to roll out its quick and simple stage-and-pay point-of-sale model via multiple channels, including customer service hotlines, smartphone applications and kiosks.
Western Union services are a part of Walgreens suite of financial service products that make it easy for millions of consumers to manage their money in store, online or with a mobile device.
“In keeping with our goal to be first choice for health and daily living for everyone in America and beyond, Walgreens will offer Western Union Money Transfer transactions as part of our expanding suite of financial services. Components like money-transfer transactions empower customers by giving them easy access to powerful financial tools,” said Jason Dubinsky, vice president and treasurer of Walgreens. “By giving customers the ability to send and receive money at our stores, we are delivering on our promise to offer financial services that provide convenience and value.”
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 June 30, 2014, the Western Union, Vigo and Orlandi Valuta branded services were offered through a combined network of over 500,000 agent locations in 200 countries and territories and over 100,000 ATMs. In 2013, The Western Union Company completed 242 million consumer-to-consumer transactions worldwide, moving $82 billion of principal between consumers, and 459 million business payments. For more information, visit www.westernunion.com.
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