South African banking group Absa and global payment services provider Western Union on Thursday launched the Western Union transfer service.
The Western Union money transfer service is a cash-to-cash, person-to-person transaction that could be facilitated at selected Absa branches and using Absa Internet and cellphone banking.
It was said to provide customers with a trusted and secure medium to send and receive money internationally.
Absa group COO Alfie Naidoo said at the launch that Absa was the first bank globally to offer the service on all three channels. He said the bank saw that there was a need for remittance in South Africa and across borders. The service would extend the banking and remittance net to include as many people as possible, while offering convenience and ease of use.
The collaboration on providing these services was the first time that banking, money transfers and cybertechnology were applied in an integrated product offering, Naidoo noted.
Western Union senior vice-president for Africa and global head of mobile transaction services Khalid Fellahi commented that Western Union conducts primary cash-to-cash transactions, but it saw over the past few years that electronic channels were more accessible to a wider variety of people, especially mobile banking.
He pointed out that banks could now ensure that consumers receive and transact easily over mobile phones with minimal travelling. Mobile banking and the new remittance service offered possibilities to the consumer sector that had no access to banks.
"Our experience with customers in 200 countries and territories around the world has shown the need to ease the movement of funds. We believe the new service adds value to an accelerated lifestyle pace and the growing mobility of labour worldwide," said Fellahi.
The service forms part of an ongoing rollout of the Western Union money transfer service throughout Absa's branch network and it aimed to be available in 400 branches by the end of 2010. The new service is available to all Absa accountholders who are registered for Internet or cellphone banking.