- Western Union Business Solutions set to team up with October
- New offering will provide mutual customer benefits and will operate in France and Italy
- “This new collaboration will enable our clients to access personalized financing solutions to strategically grow their businesses”, says Western Union leader
Major financial services provider Western Union has announced that it will form a new partnership with a Europe-based lending platform.
Western Union Business Solutions, which is the international money transfers and forex risk management department of the corporation, will partner with October – a lender focused on helping small businesses to make the right cash flow decisions.
Customers of Western Union Business Solutions can now access the same loan options as October’s customers.
October, which follows a marketplace model and hence has thousands of potential lenders on its platform, will be able to provide its customers with Western Union’s online money transfer expertise.
To begin with, the partnership will operate in two major European economies – Italy and France.
Leaders at the two firms said they were pleased to have struck up a partnership.
Frédéric Simon, who is the Vice President Europe at Western Union Business Solutions, said it would help the company to offer “benefits to customers”.
“This new collaboration will enable our clients to access personalized financing solutions to strategically grow their businesses internationally with an alternative solution beyond their traditional bank”, he said.
“Teaming up with October strengthens our benefits to customers.”
For October, Founder and CEO Olivier Goy described Western Union Business Solutions as a “natural partner” to the firm.
“Financing business development is our core business, especially when they decide to export or internationalize their operations”, he said.
“Western Union Business Solutions is a natural partner to offer our service. We are delighted to start this collaboration in France and Italy.”
In an increasingly digitalised and mobile-focused world, companies in the international payments sphere are starting to find that they work better together than apart. For cases like this one in which a major global corporation partners with a smaller firm, the benefits are mutual. For Western Union, this represents a chance to pick the best emerging talent on the start-up scene and harness its value for their own customers. While for October, the prestige of an association with a household name is likely to work wonders for their brand.
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