- Two Western Union businesses have been acquired by a US-based firm
- Easier bill viewing and mobile functionality both on offer from ACI Worldwide
- “The combination of ACI’s bill payments platform and Walletron’s next-generation mobile wallet billing technology delivers consumers a digital bill pay experience unmatched in the industry”, says Executive Vice President
A leading firm in the online money transfer sphere has finished an acquisition of a Western Union payment service.
ACI Worldwide, which is a payment solutions provider headquartered in the US, has completed its $750 million acquisition process of the Speedpay brand which was formerly run by Western Union.
It has also announced that it will now operate the Walletron business, also formerly run by Western Union.
Walletron, which has six million users in 100 nations around the world, went into business with ACI back in October of last year.
Their partnership has resulted in easier bill viewing and payments through the Up Bill Payment service. It also means that users of the app now have more integration and functionality with Apple Wallet and Google Pay.
Walletron has a range of patented digital technology available, and its moBills system has a number of features available. It can, for example, allow compliance documents and statements to be sent directly from provider to customer.
Information about the cost of acquiring Walletron was not revealed in the statement from ACI Worldwide. According to media reports, the amount was not financially significant for the firm.
Sanjay Gupta, who is Executive Vice President at ACI Worldwide, said in a statement that “customer experience was paramount” – and that this was driving the company’s decision.
“Today’s consumers expect a bill pay experience that is quick, easy and digitized, and with billing and payment among an organization’s most frequent and most important touchpoints, customer experience is paramount”, he said.
“As more consumers utilize mobile devices to view and pay bills, organizations must be able to present bills in a mobile-friendly way. The combination of ACI’s bill payments platform and Walletron’s next-generation mobile wallet billing technology delivers consumers a digital bill pay experience unmatched in the industry.”
“We are excited to welcome the Walletron team as we shape the future of bill pay”, he added.
This move by ACI Worldwide is somewhat unusual. Western Union is usually responsible for partnering with smaller companies, not the other way around – but this time, it’s a Western Union product which is being acquired by a less well-known name. This could well pave the way for other smaller firms in the sector to announce their intentions to take over products from better-known providers. More broadly, the move is likely to give ACI Worldwide a bolstered place within the electronic bill payment and presentment (EBPP) sector – a market which is growing at an increased rate thanks to the proliferation of mobile banking.
There’s more information about what’s going on in the remittance services space available at our news page.
