Western Union Expands UK Post Office Partnership

Western Union is expanding its partnership with the U.K. Post Office to offer retail cross-border money transfers, the company said in a Friday (April 29) press release.

According to the company, post office customers in the U.K. will be able to send money to loved ones overseas using Western Union’s U.K. Post Office digital services or in-person at 4,000 post office locations across the country.

Through the partnership, set to roll out this fall, customers can have their funds paid out in cash, onto a card, into a mobile wallet or into a bank account using Western Union’s global network, the company said.

Western Union President and CEO Devin McGranahan said the expanded partnership “shows how we at Western Union continue to see our leadership in retail as critical to our success, and as a critical element of our omni-channel offering.”

See also: Western Union, Australia Post Team Up For Money Transfers

Western Union says many of the post offices in the program are based in communities that have seen increasing rates of bank and credit union branch closings, and the collaboration gives people in these towns access to the global economy and improved financial inclusion.

In the past, Western Union has worked with postal services in a number of other countries, including Australia Post, France’s La Banque Postale, Italy’s Postepay and Russia’s Post Bank.

“Postmasters are knowledgeable, reliable and can provide that assurance that a transaction has gone through with a printed receipt which many of our customers still value,” said UK Post Office CEO Nick Read. “Furthermore, this expanded partnership helps drive footfall into 4,000 of our branches providing postmasters with increased remuneration opportunities.”

Read more: Western Union Reports Increasing Digital Transfer Revenue in Q1

The announcement came one day after Western Union released its first-quarter earnings report, showing that digital money transfers revenue rose by 5%, a number that represents 25% of customer-to-customer (C2C) revenues and 37% of transactions. Westernunion.com revenue grew 4%, while cross-border revenue increased by 7%.