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.
“Western Union’s imperative has always been to make the money transfer experience for our customers convenient and fast. This means continuing to invest in technology to provide choice for the customer to send money when and where they would like to do so,” said Western Union Executive Vice President, Global Operations and Technology and CTO David Thompson. “We are pleased to grow our relationship with Viber to help enable its users the ability to conveniently send money via the Viber app to practically anywhere in the world.”
“At Viber, we’re always striving to make it easier for our users to connect, and the Western Union alliance has allowed us to take this one step further in allowing users to send money through the app, while availing of a large global Agent network,” explained Robi Kopel, FinTech lead, Viber. “Our users have always been a priority for us and we have worked closely with Western Union to make this a reliable service for everyone, and we are excited to continue to grow this relationship.”
The API-based WU Connect platform enables third-party digital platforms to integrate with Western Union in order to provide a seamlessly integrated global money transfer experience to their users. Consumers are able to enjoy using their favorite social and messaging app while they send money directly from the app. They can fund the money transfer utilizing debit card or credit card and easily direct the funds to a participating Western Union retail Agent location, or a bank account where available.
