Western Union signs account-based money transfer deal with Industrial and Commercial Bank of China

17 September 2012 | 1295 views | 0 Source: Western Union

The Western Union Company (WU), a leader in global payment services, has signed an agreement with one of the world's largest banks, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), enabling its customers to send or receive money from their online bank accounts on a 24/7 basis around the world through Western Union's global network.

ICBC, ranked as the world's largest Bank based on capital and third largest based on assets, will work with Western Union to activate the Account Based Money Transfer Service which will allow customers to receive funds in US or RMB currencies.

"Providing account based money transfer services through a large and prestigious bank such as ICBC is another demonstration of the ongoing changes at Western Union," said Hikmet Ersek, Western Union President and CEO. "While we provide much needed services to people throughout the world, we also understand that our customers are seeking more choices and convenience, which our agreement with ICBC will be able to accommodate. Thanks to our robust Western Union cross-border money transfer platform, we are now able to complement our more than 36,000 location strong Agent network in China to include banking online channels giving consumers across China the choice to manage their international money transfers with flexibility."

Western Union's Account Based Money Transfer services in China have gained momentum recently with the company activating services with Postal Savings Bank of China (PSBC), Agriculture Bank of China (ABC) and China Everbright Bank (CEB). All of these banks allow their customers with on-line banking to direct international money transfer received via Western Union into their bank accounts, while CEB also offers its customers outward remittances services.

For more than 17 years, Western Union has remained committed to the China market, moving money between consumers and their family members overseas through a fast, reliable and convenient money-transfer service.

ICBC is a much awarded bank on a global and national scale and has a portfolio of 282 million account holders, of which 115 million are activated for online banking. The agreement with Western Union will propel ICBC to lead Bank account-linked inward and outward remittances in a nation that receives the second largest amount of remittances in the world - US$62 billion based on the World Bank 2011 data.