Western Union’s global digital money-moving capabilities were activated in the UAE, as a part of the company’s commitment to keeping the country at the forefront of the digital revolution.
Along with the UAE, Western Union is making significant headway across the Middle East, with more than seven countries now offering online services including Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon and Oman
In the UAE, the company launched the Western Union mobile app and relaunched the Westernunion.com website. Customers in the UAE can now connect around the world digitally with the choice to pay for transactions online or within the app via direct transfers from their bank accounts set up in the UAE. Currently, Western Union offers digital service via WU.com in over 60 countries, plus territories, with mobile apps in 35 countries.
International migrants working and living across the region represent a large part of the population and collectively send billions of remittances back home. The UAE remits a sizeable volume of the total amount of remittances, which makes the country the third largest person-to-person remittance market in the world, according to the World Bank.
“Our commitment to the Middle East is a step forward to a more prosperous and globally connected future. Our digital services support globally-integrated living without leaving anyone behind. We use cutting-edge technology to simplify money transfer. Our systems automatically handle complexities from compliance to volatile currency exchanges so users can transfer money 24/7 to nearly every country across the world, with the touch of a few buttons,” said Western Union President and CEO, Hikmet Ersek.
“Our systems are also designed so that customers at any level of financial experience can use any channel they like, be it digital or cash, online or offline,” he said.
“The ability to smoothly and fluidly transfer money internationally by the latest digital means elevates our relevance to our customers across the world. We have offered our services for more than two decades across the Middle East, including the UAE and we are pleased to be collaborating with Al Fardan Exchange,” said Western Union General Manager and RVP for Middle East and Africa, Alexandru Badulescu.
“Western Union’s customers are multi-cultural, multi-generational with diverse financial and technological savviness. Our omni-channel approach is about servicing the widest group of customers by catering to their specific money transfers needs,” he said.
According to the Global Competitiveness Report 2018 by the World Economic Forum, the UAE is ranked first in the world for mobile broadband subscription rate, and second in the mobile subscription index – which highlight both the country’s level of commitment to digital development and its fast rate of mobile adoption.
