Western Union Offers New Money Transfer Product For Social Media And Messaging Companies

The Western Union Company, long the dominant player in the money transfer and remittance market, is taking the fight over its money moving empire to social networks as upstart companies look to eat into the company’s core business.

The world of money is becoming increasingly mobile and increasingly social, and those two forces could make Western Union’s core strength of a vast physical payment infrastructure and far-flung branches increasingly irrelevant.

So the company is pushing more directly into the digital world with a new product called WU Connect, which integrates with social media and messaging services to transfer money worldwide.

According to the company, the new service will work like pretty much every other money transfer service on offer. Signing up with a debit card, credit card, or bank account will let users send money to a Western Union retail agent, or a mobile wallet or bank account.

The company didn’t talk about the fees for its service, but noted that it’s offering would be among the most robust from a compliance standpoint.

In a sign of just how tech-savvy Western Union’s new offering is, interested parties can get in touch via this email address: WUConnect@wu.com.