Western Union Introduces WU Connect Platform

The Western Union Company (NYSE: WU), a leader in global payment solutions, today launched WU^® Connect^SM, an innovative technology platform that integrates with leading consumer messaging and social media platforms to give users a unique way to quickly and conveniently transfer money worldwide.

The WU Connect platform embeds Western Union’s robust global money transfer capability into third-party digital platforms to provide users with new ways to quickly and conveniently send money to friends and family. Consumers will be able to fund the money transfer utilizing a debit card, credit card or bank account and easily direct the funds to a Western Union retail agent location around the world, and to a mobile wallet or bank account where available.

In many ways, the WU Connect platform represents a natural evolution in Western Union's strategy to reach new digital-savvy and mobile-enabled individuals. Western Union’s cross-border platform enables an industry-leading pay-in, pay-out capability that leverages technology, foreign exchange conversion, data management, as well as regulatory, compliance and anti-money laundering (AML) infrastructure, to expedite efficient and timely money movement almost anywhere in the world.

"At Western Union, we are actively listening to the voice of consumers and using that feedback as the basis for innovation in all of cross-border money transfer and payment capabilities,” said Western Union President and CEO Hikmet Ersek. “We are continuing to build upon our core strengths, expanding our digital business, investing in technology and compliance capabilities to connect the digital and physical worlds."

David Thompson, EVP, Global Operations and Technology and CTO, Western Union, expressed excitement about the potential impact of this new offering saying, "This puts Western Union in a position to extend its digital platform to networks whose users are looking for more convenient ways to send and receive money globally on a platform of their choice."

The WU Connect platform will be made available to strategic global messaging, social, and other digital networks. Western Union looks forward to working with companies in this space.

WU Connect allows for efficient and timely money movement for multiple use cases. The WU Connect platform offers a suite of application programming interfaces (APIs) built on a highly scalable infrastructure, enabling fast deployment of domestic and cross-border remittance capabilities. It seamlessly integrates into third-party user interfaces or platforms.