Western Union launches its Account-Based Money Transfer for India

 A wold leader in money remittance services Western Union has announced its partnership with State Bank of India (SBI) which is mutually beneficial for both financial institutions. According to agreement provisions the SBI accountholders will get an opportunity to receive cross-border money transfers in their bank accounts by means of the cell phones. This will become possible after the coming launch of the revolutionary solution of WU, the Account-Based Money Transfer (ABMT) service. 

It is expected that the service will be launched in the beginning of the next year. With this service the users will be enabled to send Western Union transfers directly from their accounts via the Internet or an ATM, regardless time and place. 

"India is a key market for Western Union," said Anil Kapur, Western Union's Senior VP, South and Southeast Asia. "It is the world's top remittance recipient country and received $52 billion in 2009, according to the World Bank. Western Union has more than 61,000 Agent locations in India. As we continue to expand our network, this collaboration with SBI realizes our commitment to provide our consumers with the greater convenience of accessing money sent by their families and loved ones from overseas." 

"Western Union is committed to offering a wide variety of ways for our consumers to send and receive money," said Khalid Fellahi, Western Union's Head of Mobile Transaction Services. "By leveraging our global 'hub' for moving money, we are able to continually offer new choices for SBI customers to transfer their money from Western Union directly into their accounts through mobile phones, online banking, ATMs and bank branches."