Western Union signs Philippine mobile payment deals

Global money transfer services provider Western Union, has signed separate deals with the top mobile carriers in the Philippines, Smart Communications and Globe Telecom to jointly develop and pilot mobile money transfer services in the Philippines. The service was started as part of the GSMA Mobile Money Transfer initiative to make high volume, low principal remittance available to over 8mn Filipinos overseas. The two mobile operators have a combined subscriber base of almost 50 million.

The company said the mobile money transfer service will enable consumers to transfer money to, and from, “mobile wallets” and will offer a global network of Western Union Agent locations for cash-to-mobile and mobile-to-cash transactions. According to the World Bank, the Philippines is the fourth largest recipient of remittances in the world with an estimated US$17 billion in 2007.