Global payment service Western Union is bolstering a commitment to encouraging fund transfers on mobile, concurrent with a partnership with retailer and financial services provider John Lewis.

The collaboration with John Lewis will grow Western Union’s retail Agent network in the UK through an association with diverse retailers from upmarket department stores to specialty and convenience stores, to enhance convenience and offer cross-border money transfer services to the broadest group of consumers. The partnership will expand Western Union’s capability to fund money transfers by offering customers in select countries the choice of various methods for funding transactions, including online, at ATM and kiosk locations, at a Western Union retail Agent location or, of course, via mobile.

“Facilitating choice and convenience for customers is our number one priority,” said Giovanni Angelini, general manager European Union at Western Union. “Collaborating with a reputable retail brand such as John Lewis allows us to serve consumers looking for an accessible, fast and reliable service.

“Our experience tells us that consumers wishing to send cross-border money transfers are interested in a range of options to send money, whether it is cash across retail establishments, via their bank accounts or ATMs, via digital access through their phone, tablet or their social network. Receivers are also looking for just as many ways to receive money.”

Mobile services
Western Union will also be advancing its capability on the receive side by offering customers in select countries the opportunity to collect money in cash, onto a card, directly into bank accounts and, in keeping with the times, into a mobile wallet, which will serve many of its customers in emerging markets, where the mobile device is often the only platform available to access the internet.

The partnership with John Lewis is actually an expansion of a six month pilot program, which was, according to a Western Union press release, “highly successful.”

Western Union money transfer services have been rolled out across 31 Bureaux de change in John Lewis stores across the UK, including London, Birmingham and Edinburgh.

“John Lewis Foreign Currency is delighted to be cooperating with Western Union to offer customers money transfer services,” said Dino Marcangelo, senior manager for new business development at John Lewis Finance. “This step marks our ambition to continue to broaden our growing financial services business and we are pleased that the roll out of Western Union services to our Bureau de change at 31 of our department stores have proven to be a big hit with customers.”

Financial services
Western Union has made a series of standout moves on the mobile platform in the past year in recognition of the fact that a large cohort of its target demographic — fund recipients in emerging markets — use mobile as their primary device. In October of last year, it expanded its money transfer application to customers in Canada (see story).

The company then followed with an update to its business model in December with a strategic investment in mobile payments, signaling a step towards a more modern approach to money-sharing (see story).

“John Lewis is a much-loved brand on the British High Street, renowned for its forward-thinking approach and first-class customer service,” said Massimiliano Alvisini, regional vice president, Northern Europe and Iberia at Western Union. “We are pleased to team up with this company to bring Western Union services to their customer base.”