Western Union Launches “Request Money” Bot for Messenger in Philippines

Consumers in the Philippines Can Now Request Money from U.S. Messenger Users

MANILA, Philippines, October 25, 2017—The Western Union Company, a leader in global payments, today announced it has launched a new and innovative money transfer bot which enables money transfer requests through Facebook Messenger in the Philippines.

Through the bot, Messenger users in the Philippines—the world’s third largest remittance-receiving nation—can request money from friends and family in the U.S. —the world’s largest remittance sending nation.

Requestors can state the transaction amount and their preferences for payout; with the options for funds to be received into all major bank accounts in the Philippines, or in cash at Western Union^® retail Agent locations across every province in the country.

The request for money through Messenger triggers a message to the sender in the U.S.  The sender simply clicks on the request and they are taken directly into the Western Union Money Transfer Bot within Messenger to complete the transaction in just a few simple clicks.

“This collaboration underscores our commitment to financial inclusion, by connecting the world’s developed and emerging nations in innovative ways,” said Odilon Almeida, President, Global Money Transfer at Western Union. “We are constantly looking for opportunities to ensure we are making our services accessible and convenient, at both ends of a global money transfer.”

Messenger users both in the U.S. and the Philippines now have access to Western Union’s industry-leading digital and retail cross-border money transfer platform, as well as many innovative features including access to real-time foreign exchange rates, automated customer support, notifications of transaction status and agent locator prompting nearby locations.  The user sending funds can also receive transaction tracking and notifications in almost real time, ensuring convenience and transparency on the platform that is ‘always on’ across devices.

“Our Messenger community in the Philippines can now connect with their loved ones in the United States via Western Union services—driving greater financial inclusion in addition to social connectivity,” said Kahina Van Dyke, Director, Global Financial Services Partnerships, Facebook Messenger. “We are proud to continue our work with Western Union, and launch new services via the Western Union bot for Messenger.” 

Filipinos are one of the world’s largest user groups of Facebook, and the Western Union bot for Messenger enables a digital-and-physical gateway for money movement, bringing access, convenience and leading-edge technology to these tech-savvy and highly digital-based consumers.

“Acceleration of our digital strategy is allowing Western Union to integrate a money sending and receiving market seamlessly within the Messenger Platform and we are pleased to see Philippines chosen as an early adopter of mobile-led digital technology,” said Jeffrey Navarro, Western Union Country Head of the Philippines.

In April of 2017, Western Union launched a money transfer bot for Messenger in the U.S., which offers a simple, seamless experience for those who want to move money around the world. The entire experience occurs within the Western Union cross-border money transfer platform which is embedded inside Messenger.

About Western Union

The Western Union Company (NYSE: WU) is a leader in global payment services. Together with its Vigo, Orlandi Valuta, Pago Facil and Western Union Business Solutions branded payment services, Western Union provides consumers and businesses with fast, reliable, and convenient ways to send and receive money around the world, to send payments and to purchase money orders. As of June 30, 2017, the Western Union, Vigo and Orlandi Valuta branded services were offered through a combined network of over 550,000 agent locations in 200 countries and territories and over 150,000 ATMs and kiosks, and included the capability to send money to billions of accounts. In 2016, The Western Union Company completed 268 million consumer-to-consumer transactions worldwide, moving $80 billion of principal between consumers, and 523 million business payments. For more information, visit www.westernunion.com.