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Western Union (WU), Suhyup Bank Tie Up to Ease Money Transfers

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The Western Union Company (WU - Free Report) recently collaborated with one of Korea’s renowned banks, Suhyup Bank, to facilitate seamless global money transfer services. It is worth mentioning that the account holders of Suhyup Bank across South Korea are expected to be able to avail the digital service of sending money through web and app within the next few months.

As a result of the tie-up, the customers will be able to send or receive money transfers through Western Union across roughly 130 Suhyup Bank locations and sub-agent locations of more than 220 located throughout South Korea. Within this year itself, the total number of bank and sub-agent locations catered to by Western Union are likely to be increased up to 480.

The tie-up is expected to enhance connectivity between South Korea’s customers and their family and loved ones residing outside the country. Cross-border money transfers being undertaken can be paid out in cash across over 200 countries and territories. The same can also be dispensed into bank accounts and wallets of specific countries.

The recent partnership seems to be a win-win deal for both Western Union and Suhyup Bank. This is primarily because both the companies share mutual interests, and have been making consistent efforts to help customers by offering seamless, secured and time efficient international money transfer services. This digital initiative is a time-opportune one as well. Digital money transfers, which can be executed rapidly and at lower costs, are of utmost importance amid the coronavirus outbreak.

The latest move highlights Western Union’s sincere efforts to strengthen its footprint across South Korea. This year, the company teamed up with Korea I&S in an effort to jointly offer the latter’s account holders enhanced money transfer services globally. This deal bolstered  Western Union’s presence in South Korea.  Last year, it also tied up with NongHyup and Global Money Express in a bid to harness the potential of the South Korean remittance market.

South Korea seems to be an attractive market for Western Union, considering the widespread digital penetration and rising number of Internet users. A report published in Statista states that South Korea's Internet usage rate surged to 91.9% last year from a meager 44.7% two decades ago. The market and consumer data provider also estimates Internet penetration rate to be 93.5% across the country within 2025. Besides, South Korea boasts of one of the world’s fastest Internet networks, and the country continually makes significant investments in innovative technologies to sustain the same. The government has also played an active role in the rapid expansion of the Internet across the country by including enhancement of Internet infrastructure as a top priority in several governmental regulations.

Western Union boasts of a robust digital arm, which has been built through massive investments and digital partnerships. It has been pursuing collaborations with several global and local banks as well as financial service providers, which are aimed at bolstering its digital services portfolio, facilitating enhanced management of global payments and boosting customer experience.

Zacks Rank & Price Performance

Shares of Western Union, which carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), have lost 5.7% in a year compared with the industry’s decline of 9.8%.

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Stocks to Consider

Some better-ranked stocks in the financial transaction services space include EVERTEC, Inc. (EVTC - Free Report) , Envestnet, Inc. (ENV - Free Report) and Equifax Inc. (EFX - Free Report) , each carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

EVERTEC, Envestnet and Equifax have a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 28.42%, 13.79% and 17.71%, on average, respectively.

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