Western Union has successfully linked its retail agent network and digital transactional sites in select countries to move money in minutes to account holders of select banks via India’s revolutionary Immediate Payment Service (IMPS). The service is available using cash and debit cards at participating Agent locations, and debit and credit cards at www.westernunion.com.com at this time.

Western Union President and CEO, Hikmet Ersek, said, “We are harnessing our system to link retail or digital transfers from major send countries to direct money into individual bank accounts of major receive countries.

“To date, we have connections to transfer money into bank accounts in more than 50 countries. India leads the way and we can now do it in minutes.* This is a major win for our customers. We are giving them the choice of placing cash on the counter or using cashless send options and yet sending directly into a bank account from major centres around the world.

“We move money that helps finance the futures of millions—largely global workers and their families. Linking our global retail Agent network with digital capability means convenience, reliability and speed for our customers,” concluded Ersek.

Direct-to-bank international money transfers are preferred by customers looking for the convenience of funds received directly into a bank account and accessible on demand, 24/7, according to a Western Union user survey.

The in minutes delivery speed is an enhancement to the direct-to-bank money transfer services launched by Western Union last year, which delivers funds within one banking day to 140 banks in India.

This service, provided in collaboration with IndusInd Bank, operates using the National Payments Corporation of India’s (NPCI) revolutionary IMPS platform, which has recently been approved by the Reserve Bank of India to facilitate cross-border money transfer within minutes to select banks.

Western Union® services are currently available at more than 112,000# Agent locations in India. Western Union has transactional websites in 24 countries and a mobile app in the US and Australia to send money globally to 200 countries and territories. For more information on Western Union’s global capacities, including online, mobile money transfer, account-based options and retail Agent locations, please visit www.WU.com.

* Service and funds availability depends on certain factors including the Service selected, the select ion of delayed delivery options, special terms applicable to each Service, amount sent, destination country, currency availability, regulatory issues, consumer protection issues, identification requirements, delivery restrictions, agent location hours, and differences in time zones (collectively, “Restrictions”).

# Network data as of 30 September 2014