Note from the Publisher: In an "across the pond" story, San Francisco-based Western Union has teamed up with Viber to offer cross border money transfer through its app. Now, I'm all about fintech, but I am EMBARASSED to say I did not know of Viber, although their website claims they have 800 million people on the platform. Earth to Cindy, get out of your bubble more. Anyhoo, Viber is owned by Chinese-based Rakuten (which bought US-based Buy.com in 2010 and renamed it), so that would explain the sheer size of the enterprise. This particular deal is for UK-based Viber subscribers to send money cross-border. Okay, got that flowchart down? There will be a quiz later!!
"The Western Union Company (NYSE: WU), a leader in global payment services, today announced it is enhancing its existing relationship with Viber, a leading mobile messaging app with 754M unique users worldwide, by enabling Viber users in the UK to send money domestically and internationally to more than 200 countries and territories from the convenience of the Viber app.
Western Union and Viber have created a money transfer experience that will start and complete within the chat interface of Viber, not only providing the convenience of never leaving the app, but also contextualizing money transfer within the personal relationships it supports. Earlier this year, both companies announced Viber users in the United States could send money to more than 200 countries and territories worldwide.
Leveraging Western Union’s proprietary WU® ConnectTM FinTech platform, this new capability allows consumers to send up to £400 when using a credit or debit card to be received in cash at more than 500,000 Western Union® Agent locations in more than 200 countries and territories. If transferring to a bank account, consumers can send up to £500. As part of this launch, consumers transferring money from the app to a bank account can take advantage of a zero transfer fee* offer, for a limited time."
Read Full Press Release at BusinessWire