Western Union Improves Instant Payments Offering in Europe

Western Union, a global provider of cross-border and cross-currency payments, has bolstered its instant payment capabilities in Europe by joining the Single Euro Payments Area Instant Credit Transfer scheme (SCT Inst) as a direct participant, according to a Wednesday (Oct. 13) press release.

Joining SCT Inst enables Western Union to offer its consumers — which span 24 countries and more than 2,300 financial institutions (FIs) — additional real-time money transfer and payment options that are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, according to the announcement. In addition, the partnership aims to provide more options, convenience, speed and reliability, according to the company.

“We continue to deliver cutting-edge products and services to expand and enhance the relationship with our customers across Europe,” said Western Union International Bank Managing Director Peter Bucher.

The Single Euro Payments Area Instant Credit Transfer makes funds available within 10 seconds, according to the release.

Related news: Western Union Partners With African Banks for Easy Cross-Border Transfers

Wednesday’s announcement comes on the heels of Western Union’s partnership with major financial institutions in Africa to make digital cross-border money transfers and bill payments faster and easier, as PYMNTS reported. As part of that effort, customers using KCB Bank Kenya, the Diamond Trust Bank and the Kenya Post Office Savings Bank can use Western Union to send and receive funds from their mobile banking apps. They can also choose to have funds sent directly to their bank accounts or to a Western Union agent location.

See also: Western Union CFO on Thinking Outside the Box to Digitize the Enterprise

The company’s recent advancements follow a concerted move toward digitization. Even prior to the pandemic, the company had made inroads to digitize, including getting rid of paper in the back office. In addition, Western Union has explored ways to apply digitization to workflows that had not initially been considered in the modernization journey. The goal through all its digitization efforts, Western Union CFO and Executive Vice President Raj Agrawal told PYMNTS, is to seamlessly connect with customers via digital channels and offer more valuable electronic products and services.