Western Union Extends Bank Of China Remittance Locations

In an effort to expand its presence in China, Western Union Co. (NYSE:WU) , the leader in money remittance market, has announced an additional enrollment of over 6,700 Bank of China locations into its retail network.

Through an enhanced presence of Western Union, the bank’s customers can now access the services of the former in more than 10,000 of its locations across China.

The additional enrollment of bank locations to Western Union’s agent network will shoot up its money transfer services to more than 36,000 locations in that country.

The partnership with Bank of China dates back to 2014 when Western Union forged an alliance with the former to provide money transfer service throughout China via the bank’s branches.

The agreement, which became effective in Jan 2015, allowed customers to receive remittances directly to their online banking-enabled accounts and at select self-service kiosks.

China specifically appears an attractive market for Western Union and the company has been operating in this region since 1995. Dynamic factors such as rising migration, both at domestic and international levels, a boom in mobile Internet users and the employment of effective and efficient policies by the government of China, make room for further growth in the region.

The company has chosen Bank of China since it is one of the most globally diversified Chinese commercial banks.

In China, the use of the online mode of fund transfer has gained immense popularity because of a high Internet penetration rate and a lower transaction cost than branch transfers which require customers to be physically present. Therefore, major banks in China have been investing in the online portal development in order to cater to the growing demand of electronic money transfer. Another player in the same industry, Moneygram International Inc. (NASDAQ:MGI) , also has a presence in China.

For Western Union, tie-ups with regional banks have always been a preferred way of easy expansion. The company holds partnership with the likes of Dubai Bank, IndusInd Bank Kotak Mahindra Bank in India, and Amana Bank in Sri Lanka among several other banks across the globe.

Western Union carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Investors may also consider other players like Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) and Vantiv Inc. (NYSE:VNTV) . Both these stocks carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Global Payments delivered positive surprises in each of the last four quarters, with an average beat of 7.07%.

Vantiv beat expectations in each of the last four quarters, with an average beat of 4.53%.

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