U.S. Bank is collaborating with Western Union to let U.S. Bank customers use the Western Union Money Transfer services via the U.S. Bank mobile application.

U.S. Bank has offered Western Union Money Transfer services since 2009, but now customers can do so via mobile. According to U.S. Bank, it is the first bank in the United States to integrate the Western Union Money Transfer services into its mobile app.

“Adding Western Union enhances our overall digital money movement strategy,” said Brendan Devine, digital money movement manager at U.S. Bank, Minneapolis.

“Our primary goal is to make it easier for our customers to send money on any device to anyone across the country or around the world,” he said.

“We want to give our customers the most convenient banking experience that we can. We are delivering on our promise to allow customers to bank anywhere and anytime they want.”

Money transfer
Western Union Money Transfer services let consumers conveniently pay other consumers via mobile or desktop.

Eligible U.S. Bank mobile banking customers will now see the Western Union logo in the person-to-person money transfer options. Online banking customers will see Western Union as a funds transfer option.

In order to qualify for the new service, customers must have been a customer of U.S. Bank for at least a year and have a registered mobile phone and eligible deposit account.

U.S. Bank decided to offer the new service to make moving money as convenient as possible for its customers, per Mr. Devine. Customers will be able to send money around the world from the comfort of their own home.

When consumers receive a payment through the Western Union services, they can be paid in cash and use it immediately.

Mobile banking
U.S. Bank has rolled out a number of mobile initiatives in the past few years.

In July, U.S. Bank integrated with the Square digital wallet, enabling users to fund payments made via the mobile application from their bank account (see story).

Earlier this year, U.S. Bank even offered customers the ability to pay via NFC by providing a customized U.S. Bank Go Mobile iPhone case equipped with NFC technology (see story).

The bank also rolled out mobile photo bill pay services last year to let customers pay their bills by simply snapping a picture of the document using the camera on a smartphone or tablet (see story).

“We are finding that as device ubiquity grows, as people become more comfortable using their phones for all their banking activities, as we find new ways to leverage a phone’s capabilities to make banking easier for our customers, customers expect their bank to offer a full rich set of money management and movement capabilities on their phones, tablets and laptops,” Mr. Devine said.

Final Take
Rebecca Borison is editorial assistant on Mobile Commerce Daily, New York