THURSDAY, March 28, 2024
nationthailand

Western Union ramps up digital push

Western Union ramps up digital push

WESTERN Union, a long-established provider of money transfer services, says it has broken new ground for|its operations in Thailand with the launch of international money transfer services.

The move comes as the company steps up its digital expansion plan across Asia.
Under the services, customers in Thailand can connect with their families and friends at any time via the Western Union mobile app or transactional wu.com/th website. The services have been launched in association with Central Department Store, one of the largest department store chains in Thailand and Western Union’s first agent in the country, providing global money transfers at its retail locations for nearly 25 years.
Sohini Rajola, regional vice president for South Asia and Indo-China at Western Union, said the company’s digital services have been growing very fast. In other markets, the growth has been at a rate of about 20 per cent.
 “Coming to Asia, we believe that growth will be at the same rate or even faster because the overall population is very young and tech savvy,” she said. “Thailand has been one of the important markets for Western Union. In fact, the country was the first in Indo-China for us to launch digital services. The country has a lot of growth potential, especially with the vision of the government in supporting the digital industry. The government recognises the power of the digital industry in shaping the future and, at the same time, Thais are quick to implement digital solutions and technology.”
Rajola said that Western Union’s digital services in Thailand enable payouts into billions of bank accounts worldwide in nearly 100 countries and territories, or to Western Union’s more than half a million agent locations in more than 200 countries and territories. “Customers can pay for their transactions natively within the digital channels using a choice of card or account, or commence their transaction on app or the Web and pay in-person at retail,” she said.
“We are delighted to debut international digital money transfer services in Thailand as part of our digital expansion plans across Asia. Our strategy of a multi-channel approach is about servicing the widest group of customers who are multi-cultural, multi-generational with multiple purposes of sending money.

Focus on innovatIon
“Our inclusive innovation approach enables customers to access services online, via mobile app or in person at our retail network and also integrates our tenured Western Union retail agents.
“We are delighted to collaborate with the Central Department Store, our agent of nearly 25 years to offer consumers boundless possibilities to integrate mobile usage across various aspects of their daily lives.”
 Rajola said the company had already seen a large number of registrations.
“We expect that within six months, we could see online money transfer transactions continue to grow globally,” she said.
Rajola said that the key challenge is the lack of Electronic Know Your Customer (eKYC) principles in the country. Once eKYC becomes available, the digital transaction can be more seamless.
“The Thai Board of Investment has declared that the digital industry will be a significant driver of Thailand’s economic transformation strategy, and Western Union’s digital services aligns with the Thai government's Thailand 4.0 policy to create an economy driven by innovation and technology,” she said.
More than 57 million of Thailand’s 69 million population are internet users, bringing 82 per cent of the population online, according to a 2019 report by Hootsuite and We Are Social. In addition, there are more than 92 million mobile subscriptions in the country.
Montri Sithiyavanich, head of financial services at Central Group, said: “Our collaboration with Western Union is focused on delivering customer-centric solutions and services and enabling convenient financial transactions.
“Western Union’s innovation over time has built a powerful cross-border platform for moving money almost anywhere in the world in a matter of moments and we are delighted to work together and open up new choices and possibilities to move money reliably in many available formats – digital or cash, online or offline.”
 

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