Visa has announced a new strategic partnership with cross border and cross-currency money movement specialists Western Union.
Through the deal, Western Union will being implementing Visa Direct, the firms real-time push payments platform.
“Together Visa Direct and Western Union are collaborating with plans to scale real-time cross border payments to businesses and consumers in more than 200 countries and territories in more than 130 currencies,” commented Bill Sheley, global head of push payments, Visa.
The two entities expect improvements in speed and transparency during the process of sending money worldwide and Visa believe the collaboration reinforces its commitment to “modernise how payments are made around the world.”
Sheley summarised: “This new strategic relationship with Western Union combines the industry-leading capabilities of the world’s largest remittance provider with Visa’s global reach, risk management abilities and operating scale, to bring exceptional value propositions and user experiences to senders and receivers around the globe.”
Jean Claude Farah, executive vice president, Western Union, claimed that the collaboration will enable customers a “fast, user-friendly and reliable platform” to send funds worldwide.
He said: “Western Union has the largest money transfer retail network and this agreement represents a key milestone for our account payout network combining the best of Visa and Western Union‘s cross border capabilities to enable a world-class payments platform,”
Currencycloud
Visa also announced a new agreement with payments platform Currencycloud to drive further innovation in cross-border and travel payments.
Through the partnership Visa’s clients, banking, and fintech partners will now have the ability to utilise Currencycloud’s cloud-based payments platform.
“Today, 1 in 5 payments is a cross-border transaction, whether that’s from a consumer travelling internationally or buying from an international seller online” explained Charlotte Hogg, CEO, Europe, Visa.
“Our goal is to continue to help our clients meet this increasing demand for slick, simple and more convenient cross border payments and make it easier for Visa cardholders to manage their money when travelling.
“Our partnership with Currencycloud will empower our clients to do just that by offering an innovative, competitive, digital-first solution that ultimately give consumers and cardholders more control over digital payments – at home and abroad.”
Currencycloud’s platform offers customers in-demand services such as multi-currency wallets and real time notifications on foreign exchange transactions.
Visa’s account holders will be able to better manage their travel abroad through improved visibility and control of their money.
Mike Laven, CEO of Currencycloud commented: “Currencycloud exists to take the complexity out of international payments. Banks are under pressure to provide better user experiences in an increasingly connected world, and our partnership with Visa will enable us to deliver that on a grand scale.
“Our leading APIs give control and visibility of international transactions; that power combined with the reach of Visa will enable a new generation of consumers to benefit from a better experience when spending abroad.”
