Post Office Expands Cross-Border Financial Services Offering Across Its Digital Channel
DENVER and LONDON, 18 JULY 2019 – Post Office Ltd, the United Kingdom’s largest retail network, and Western Union (NYSE: WU), a leader in cross-border, cross-currency money movement, today launched a collaborative service to offer UK consumers and businesses expanded digital international payment services.
The Western Union® cross-border money movement platform will power international money transfers and payments as an integrated service on the Post Office’s digital channel. Customers will be able to access international payment services via a Post Office and Western Union branded online portal. The experience will be modelled on Western Union’s highly rated global online transactional sites.
“Western Union’s international reach and scale mean we’re able to bring a new dimension to the Post Office’s digital offering for individuals and businesses,” said Hikmet Ersek, President and CEO, Western Union. “This collaboration marks an expansion of our strategy to open our platform to new alliances and solve the complexities of cross-border, cross-currency transactions for companies. From settlement to regulatory compliance, we’re uniquely positioned to help many companies meet customers wherever they are in the financial ecosystem.”
With 11,500 locations, Post Office is the largest retail network in the UK, surpassing high street banks and building societies.
Owen Woodley, CEO of Financial services and telecoms at Post Office commented:
“The launch of this service is great news for our customers, and demonstrates how we’re committed to enhancing and expanding the services our customers can access through our digital channel.
“Working together with Western Union means we can offer customers the capability to transfer money online with ease – not just to bank accounts, but also to mobile wallets and retail Agent locations in more than 200 countries and territories. Alongside our existing branch services, this online alliance with Western Union significantly expands the convenient access to money transfer services that the Post Office is proud to offer.”
Business customers will have access to Western Union’s innovative WU® EDGE platform, where businesses can: make near real-time payment transactions in 54 currencies, use tools to help protect profits and help control their cash flow and expand their network by connecting and finding new business partners across the world.
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About Western Union
Western Union (NYSE: WU) is a global leader in cross-border, cross-currency money movement. Our omnichannel platform connects the digital and physical worlds and makes it possible for consumers and businesses to send and receive money and make payments with speed, ease, and reliability. As of March 31, 2019, our network included over 550,000 retail agent locations offering Western Union, Vigo or Orlandi Valuta branded services in more than 200 countries and territories, with the capability to send money to billions of accounts. Additionally, westernunion.com, our fastest growing channel in 2018, is available in approximately 70 countries, plus additional territories, to move money around the world. With our global reach, Western Union moves money for better, connecting family, friends and businesses to enable financial inclusion and support economic growth. For more information, visit www.westernunion.com.
About Post Office
With more than 11,500 branches across the UK, the Post Office is the largest retail network in the UK, and provides services central to peoples’ everyday lives; 99.7% of the population lives within 3 miles of a Post Office. We offer 170 different products and services spanning financial services including insurance, loans, mortgages and credit cards; Government services; telephony; foreign currency; travel insurance and mail services. Post Offices branches remain highly valued and trusted, and are the focal point of many communities: we offer the largest fee free cash withdrawal network and 99 percent of UK bank customers can access their usual high street bank accounts at the Post Office.
