Western Union also launched domestic money transfers as business correspondent to Kotak Mahindra Bank enabling Indians to send money directly into bank accounts in India.

As part of the company's international money transfer offering, consumers in the U.S. and U.K. can now send direct-to-bank transactions to banks in India online—via the company's transactional websites and, in the U.S., via its smartphone application—or by visiting thousands of participating Agent locations. Additionally, U.S. and U.K. consumers who have a non-resident bank account in India can use Western Union to send money into these accounts.

In a ground-breaking deal with Kotak Mahindra Bank, one of India's fastest growing private banks, Western Union as a business correspondent paved the way for participating Agent locations across India to facilitate domestic money transfers—by allowing Indians to send monies directly into banks in India during, and beyond, traditional banking hours. The service will be available from today at 500 retail locations throughout the country with significant location expansion plans by the end of the year.

Officiating at the formal announcement ceremony in Mumbai, India today, Western Union's President and Chief Executive Officer, Hikmet Ersek said, "Our goal is to serve our consumers anytime and anywhere. To achieve this, we are pursuing a multi-product, multi-channel strategy to enable consumers to manage their finances the way they want."

Ersek continued, "It is a phenomenal achievement for Western Union consumers to be able to send international money transfers directly into bank accounts in up to 48 countries, now including India. Thanks also to our relationship with Kotak Mahindra Bank; as a business correspondent, we have the potential to use more than half of our Agent locations to send domestic money transfers directly into India's banking network."