Western Union Joins Hands With Stellar Collaborator Thunes for Mobile Wallet Transfers

Global payments and remittance giant Western Union has recently joined hands with Thunes, a Stellar collaborator. The partnership comes in the wake of providing Western Union clients the facility to make global payments directly from the mobile wallets.

Thunes is the recently rebranded name for TansferTo cross-border payments network. TransferTo holds a long-time partnership with the Stellar blockchain network to test the integration of blockchain-powered settlements within its payments services.

According to the official press release, the two partners will focus on the use of Western Union’s digital network to transfer funds directly to recipients’ mobile wallets. Sobia Rahman, Global Head of Account Payout Network for Western Union said: “We are continuously expanding and enhancing our account payout portfolio, providing customers with multiple payout options including bank accounts, cards or mobile wallets. Our goal is to make digital money transfer services more accessible, with a specific focus on enabling mobile transactions.”

The press release notes that the collaboration between the two players will encourage greater financial inclusion and access to customers. Furthermore, it will be especially beneficial to customers not having access to traditional financial services by helping them with alternative payment solutions such as the mobile wallets.

Steve Vickers, CEO at Thunes said: "We are delighted to be working with Western Union to provide global reach for their customers. Our payments platform seamlessly interconnects payment providers globally and enables interoperability between diverse payment systems, and by utilizing our vast networks, Western Union customers will now have more flexibility when sending money across borders.”

Western Union has kept itself open to explore the emerging market of cryptocurrencies and blockchain. In the past, the payments platform has also experimented with Ripple’s XRapid solution for quick and low-cost cross-border settlements.

There’s no doubt to it that with the growing domination of blockchain, financial payment companies slowly need to adopt new technologies that can best serve their customers’ interests.