ENGLEWOOD, Colo., Dec. 8, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Western Union (NYSE:WU), a leader in global payment services, announced today updated functionality to the integration between Western Union Business Solutions (WUBS) and its real-time domestic and international foreign wire exchange solution partner WireXchange from Fiserv. The new direct credit and auto-convert features allow financial institutions to provide their commercial and retail clients with enhanced options, favorable rates, reliability and greater flexibility when sending payments across borders. The new features provide the following functionalities and benefits:
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The direct credit function gives financial institutions and their clients greater flexibility in having a lower cost option for the delivery of currencies. By leveraging WUBS' global clearing network, direct credit payments are routed through in-country clearing networks within the beneficiary foreign countries. These local payment channels are more cost effective for banks and their customers.
- The auto-convert feature presents financial institutions with the ability to convert funds to the recipients' local currency on the front-end, which is typically a more reliable, favorable exchange rate. Previously, the interface only allowed payments to be delivered as standard wires. Auto-convert provides an option for financial institutions where cross-border USD wires to certain countries can be converted and delivered in local funds. This benefits financial institutions by enabling them to participate in foreign exchange revenue not available when payments are sent in USD. Auto-convert may also benefit recipients in countries where the receiving banks usually convert the received USD to their local currency on the back end at unpredictable or unfavorable rates.
"Our goal is to provide financial institutions with effective global payment tools which help them solidify and grow their client base while providing new channels to generate non-interest revenue streams," said Jonathan Rees, Vice President Americas, Western Union Business Solutions. "The addition of direct credit payments and auto-convert are significant enhancements to our integrated international wire solution."
"Completed about a year ago, the integration of WireXchange and Western Union Business Solutions' foreign exchange system supports our joint clients' efforts to grow their global payments businesses," said Bailey Nelson, Vice President, Credit Union Solutions, Fiserv. "We have had a long-standing and valued partnership with Western Union Business Solutions and we will continue to partner on opportunities to deliver value to our growing client base."
About Fiserv
This year, Fiserv, Inc. (Nasdaq:FISV) celebrates 30 years of leadership in financial services technology. As one of FORTUNE® magazine's World's Most Admired Companies, Fiserv is helping clients worldwide achieve best-in-class results by driving innovation in payments, processing services, risk and compliance, customer and channel management, and business insights and optimization. For more information, visit www.fiserv.com.
About Western Union Business Solutions
Western Union Business Solutions enables companies of all sizes to send and receive international payments and manage global cash flow, creating unique solutions tailored to suit their individual needs. It is a business unit of the Western Union Company (NYSE:WU), a leading nonbank provider of cross border payments, which operates its Business Solutions services through locally licensed affiliates in over 30 countries. Clients are supported by a network of trading offices, strategic banking relationships and a global clearing network and can send cross-border foreign exchange payments in more than 135 currencies.
About Western Union
The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU) is a leader in global payment services. Together with its Vigo, Orlandi Valuta, Pago Facil and Western Union Business Solutions branded payment services, Western Union provides consumers and businesses with fast, reliable and convenient ways to send and receive money around the world, to send payments and to purchase money orders. As of September 30, 2014, the Western Union, Vigo and Orlandi Valuta branded services were offered through a combined network of over 500,000 agent locations in 200 countries and territories and over 100,000 ATMs and kiosks. In 2013, The Western Union Company completed 242 million consumer-to-consumer transactions worldwide, moving $82 billion of principal between consumers, and 459 million business payments. For more information, visit www.westernunion.com.