- New partnership will be alongside fintech firm Paramount Commerce, and is set to enable faster and more convenient transfers at home and abroad
- All part of an omnichannel approach by Western Union
- “With the launch of account-funded services, we are pleased to offer our customers more choice, both for how they would like to pay and also how the receiver would like to get their funds”, said Western Union spokesperson
World-famous money transfer organisation Western Union has announced it will offer its customers account-funded money transfers soon thanks to a partnership with a tech company.
Western Union will work alongside Paramount Commerce, which is a fintech and data intelligence firm, to offer the function.
It comes as part of a series of partnerships which Western Union has announced in the Canadian market recently.
Now, customers in Canada will be able to use their Canada-based bank account to place both global and local cash transfers.
While they will still be able to use the normal Western Union funding mechanisms, such as heading down to a local branch of the Western Union brand and handing over cash, they will now be able to make this process a little more streamlined if they wish.
It will also be possible for the person on the other end of the transaction, the recipient, to receive the cash using a method of their choice.
This approach, which involves maximising the number of touchpoints at which the customer can make a transaction, is described in the industry as “omnichannel” – and is a common hallmark of announcements like these.
According to a Western Union spokesperson, the company is “pleased to offer” the new service to customers.
“As global digital money transfers continue to grow, consumers are increasingly expecting alternative payment methods to credit cards, including being able to fund transfers directly from their bank accounts”, said Western Union’s head of Americas Network, Molly Shea.
“With the launch of account-funded services, we are pleased to offer our customers more choice, both for how they would like to pay and also how the receiver would like to get their funds”, she added.
Western Union often chooses to partner with organisations to help deliver its services – and eagle-eyed watchers of the cross border payments sector will no doubt be aware that there are few places where this is less true than Canada.
WU makes headlines a lot here for partnerships-related news.
Last month, for example, it was announced that the firm would work alongside leading Canadian bank TD to improve its offering.
Canada’s status as a high-income nation with an advanced level of financial services provision clearly, then, has given Western Union the confidence it needs to strike up partnerships and trust that they will develop profitably and sustainably.
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