Western Union’s global digital money-moving capabilities were enhanced in the United Arab Emirates(UAE), as a part of the company’s deep commitment to keeping this nation at the forefront of the digital revolution.
Along with the UAE, Western Union is making significant headway across the Middle East, with more than seven countries now offering online services including Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman and Qatar.
In the UAE, the company launched the Western Union mobile app and relaunched the Westernunion.com website, in association with local Agent Al Fardan Exchange.Customers in the UAE can now connect to their families and loved ones around the world digitally with the choice to pay for transactions online or within the app via direct transfers from their bank accounts set up in the UAE.
Currently, Western Union offers digital service via WU.com in over 60 countries, plus territories, with mobile apps in 35 countries; moreover, its entire network is a combination of retail Agent locations in more than 200 countries and territories, account payout in nearly 100 countries, and wallet payout in a dozen countries.
The UAE remits a sizeable volume of the total amount of remittances, which makes the country the third largest person-to-person remittance market in the world, according to the World Bank2.
“Our commitment to the Middle East is a step forward to a more prosperous and globally connected future. Ourdigital services support globally-integrated living without leaving anyone behind. We use cutting-edge technology to simplify money transfer. Our systems automatically handle complexities from compliance to volatile currency exchanges so users can transfer money 24/7 to nearly every country across the world, with the touch of a few buttons,” said Western Union President and CEO, Hikmet Ersek.
“Our systems are also designed so that customers at any level of financial experience can use any channel they like, be it digital or cash, online or offline,” he said.
“The ability to smoothly and fluidly transfer money internationally by the latest digital means elevates our relevance to our customers across the world. We have offered our services for more than two decades across the Middle East, including the UAE and we are pleased to be collaborating with Al Fardan Exchange,” said Western Union General Manager and RVP for Middle East and Africa, Alexandru Badulescu.
“Western Union’s customers are multi-cultural, multi-generational with diverse financial and technological savviness. Our omni-channel approach is about servicing the widest group of customers by catering to their specific money transfers needs,” he said.
