Western Union Expands its Service Offering Across Peru

• Western Union Teams with PlazaVea, Vivanda and Metro Supermarkets to Offer Cross-Border Remittance Services at 10 New Locations.
  

• Thanks to New Partnership with BIM, Customers Can Now Store on Their Mobile Phones with New E-Wallet Product.

LIMA, Peru--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Western Union announced today an expansion of its services across Peru, offering customers more ways to send and receive money in a fast, convenient and innovative way.

New Agreement with PlazaVea, Vivanda and Metro Supermarkets

Western Union customers in Peru can now receive money from friends and family around the world, pay their electricity, water and cell phone bills as well as buy and sell dollars and euros at 10 PlazaVea, Vivanda and Metro supermarkets strategically located in eight points in the capital and two key regional cities:

• PlazaVea - Miraflores
• Metro Garzón - Jesús María
• PlazaVea - San Juan de Lurigancho
• PlazaVea Dasso - San Isidro
• PlazaVea El Tambo - Huancayo
• Metro Ovalo Papal – Trujillo
• Vivanda 2 de Mayo – San Isidro
• PlazaVea - La Molina
• PlazaVea - El Cortijo
• Metro - Independencia

“Many of our customers depend on Metro, PlazaVea and Vivanda for groceries and other basic needs,” said Claudia Reyes, Western Union Country Director for Peru. “By working with these establishments, we are providing our customers with even more convenience, offering the ability to send and receive money at their locations, pay for services and exchange currency. We are extremely excited to continue our work with PlazaVea, Vivanda and Metro, while simultaneously helping our customers manage and simplify their busy lives.”

Western Union Teams with BIM to Launch New E-Wallet Service

Western Union is also launching a new e-wallet service for its customers in Peru. By simply downloading the BIM app on their mobile phones, customers can benefit from a simplified electronic money account to receive remittances. Once the app is downloaded, they can sign up, click on the Western Union icon, search for the remittances, complete the corresponding data and confirm the operation with a password. The amount is added to the BIM balance and will be available immediately.

“Giving our customers choice and convenience is key to our omnichannel portfolio of services,” added Reyes. “We understand our customers have unique needs. By introducing the electronic wallet through BIM, customers can utilize an agile and innovative service to receive remittances quickly and easily from a mobile phone.”

Fernando Barrios, General Manager of Pagos Digitales Peruanos, commented: "For us at BIM, it is essential to promote financial inclusion through different functionalities that allow our users to access their money quickly, easily and securely. Therefore, the partnership with Western Union is key because, in a country like Peru with high annual remittances, it positions us closer to our users and their needs, being the first wallet to provide this type of service."

“As we continue to expand across Peru, we look forward to providing our customers additional choice as we enhance our digital and retail capabilities in the months and years to come,” said Reyes.

The growth in Western Union’s retail business across Peru is a result of the company’s recently announced strategy designed to enhance the customer experience, building on the company’s history and solid foundation to create more meaningful relationships with its customers. This includes providing customers simple ways to send and receive money in minutes, including the ability to send money in a physical location or over the web, then have it delivered directly to bank accounts or picked up as cash at any Western Union retail location around the world.

In addition, the company’s decision is driven by the growth of remittances despite adverse global factors. As per recent data from the World Bank, remittances grew by approximately 5% in 2022, reaching USD 626 billion. In Latin America and the Caribbean, remittance flows are estimated to have grown by 9.3%¹.

"We continue to see growth in remittances despite the various political and social contexts in the world,” said Reyes. “This shows how important remittances are to local and regional economies, while providing much needed support to our customers’ loved ones.”

About Western Union

The Western Union Company (NYSE: WU) is committed to helping people around the world who aspire to build financial futures for themselves, their loved ones and their communities. Our leading cross-border, cross-currency money movement, payments and digital financial services empower consumers, businesses, financial institutions and governments—across more than 200 countries and territories and nearly 130 currencies—to connect with billions of bank accounts, millions of digital wallets and cards, and a global footprint of hundreds of thousands of retail locations. Our goal is to offer accessible financial services that help people and communities prosper. For more information, visit www.westernunion.com.

¹ https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2022/11/30/remittances-grow-5-percent-2022