Western Union, SBI to launch mobile money transfer service

Western Union is a leader in global payment services, while SBI is India's largest bank.
In July, Western Union announced the introduction of the account-based money transfer (ABMT) service to be launched in early-2011. This service will enable SBI customers with online bank accounts to pull Western Union Money Transfer transactions directly into their accounts via the Internet.

The new mobile service will provide SBI customers with an additional option to direct a Western Union Money Transfer transaction into their accounts anytime and anywhere, a press release issued here stated.

"India is a key market for Western Union," the company's Managing Director for south and south-east Asia, Anil Kapur, said.

"Western Union has more than 61,000 agent locations in India. As we continue to expand our network, this collaboration with SBI realises our commitment to provide our consumers with the greater convenience of accessing money sent by their families and loved ones from overseas," he said.

SBI has 110-million account-holders, of which more than four-million are registered for on-line banking. Western Union's account-based money transfer service complements SBI's nationwide network of more than 12,000 branches currently offering the Western Union Money Transfer service.

Western Union's Regional Vice-President for India, Kiran Shetty, said that "by leveraging our global `hub' for moving money, we are able to continually offer new and innovative choices for SBI customers to transfer their money from Western Union directly into their accounts through mobile phones."

With this agreement with SBI, consumers will be able to send money from one of Western Union's 3,80,000 agent locations globally to an SBI account.