Western Union sees the growing necessity for money transfers

Patricia Riingen, senior vice president for Southeast Asia and Oceania, said that apart from expanding its touch points to support inbound and outbound transactions in this region, Western Union would improve its technology to make it more convenient for its customers to send and receive money.

Of the 10 countries in Asean, Myanmar is seen as providing the most opportunities for Western Union because its opening up after decades of military dictatorship is attracting migrants to work there. As well, there are a lot of Myanmar migrants in Thailand needing to regularly send money home to their families.

After the AEC kicks in at the end of this year, Western Union expects outbound transactions will be a fast-growing segment, she said.

At Western Union in Thailand, outbound transfers account for 20 per cent of total transaction.

Infrastructure upgrade

The coming regional integration is also prompting many businesses in Thailand to improve their infrastructure, so their outbound transactions will grow steadily in line with these business activities, Riingen said.

Western Union has been operating in Thailand for 20 years, and now has 6,000 agent locations and 7,000 automated teller machines nationwide through collaboration with eight other companies.

They are Bangkok Bank, Krungthai Bank, Bank of Ayudhya, Thanachart Bank, United Overseas Bank (Thai), the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives, Thailand Post, and Central Department Store.

She said the company would continue increasing the number of touch point in Thailand as some agent locations offer limited service, such as not being available on weekends.

Western Union did not disclose its revenue targets for Thailand but it believes the country’s economy will start growing again thanks |to tourism, which has a significant role in building the Kingdom ’s economy.