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Western Union locations hit half million

Dubai, May 1, 2012

Western Union, a leader in global payment services, announced it has opened the 500,000th agent location through which it provides its expanding portfolio of financial services.

Western Union, whose network spans more than 200 countries and territories, opened the milestone location “Freedom News” in New York City.

Western Union in the Middle East and Africa region witnessed a substantial development in their expansion of the number of touch points to reach over 38,000 agent locations in 66 countries across 7000 cities, towns and villages.

This includes more than 1,540 agent locations in the GCC countries in 361 different cities and towns among them more than 90 agent locations in Bahrain spread over 38 cities and towns; all distributed through various banks, post offices and financial service companies in both the public and private sector.

Hikmet Ersek, president and CEO Western Union said, “Western Union is changing quickly.   Building on our strong global fundamentals – our brand, Agent network and regulatory expertise – we are creating a more dynamic organization and product set focused on the underserved market – economically viable consumers and businesses whose financial service needs are not being met fully by other segments of the industry.”

“Our vision is to establish one million Western Union touch points – in every corner of the globe where anyone, anywhere can send a money transfer, pay bills, obtain and reload a prepaid card or pick up funds sent through a Western Union yellow phone or the Internet. We believe access to financial services is not a luxury, it’s a necessity,” concluded Ersek.

“The Middle East and GCC markets play host to a large expatriate population, and Western Union provides a crucial bridge back home for them” said Jean Claude Farah, Western Union senior vice president Middle East and Africa.

“It’s one of the most diverse markets in the world, with people from hundreds of countries from all walks of life residing here. We tailor our financial services according to the nature of the diverse ethnography in the region, and going by our success it seems that we are touching a chord across the board. Our continued expansion in this region reflects the growing trust and comfort that people have with using Western Union,” Farah added.

Western Union is a leader in this $416 billion annual cross-border flow of resources, completing 226 million consumer-to-consumer transactions worldwide and 425 million business payments in 2011, it said in a statement. – TradeArabia News Service




Tags: Dubai | Western Union | payments | Global remittances | Agent location |

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