Western Union (WU) Ties Up to Boost BSI Locations in Indonesia
The Western Union Company WU recently joined forces with Bank Syariah Indonesia ("BSI") in a bid to extend the former’s services at increased BSI locations across the country.
It has to be noted that BSI, which is a state-owned bank of Indonesia, was formed following the merger between Bank Rakyat Indonesia Syariah ("BRIS"), Bank Negara Indonesia Syariah ("BNIS") and Bank Syariah Mandiri ("BSM"). Western Union previously collaborated with one of the banks involved in the merger (Bank Rakyat Indonesia) during April of this year in a bid to to empower Indonesian customers with enhanced digital and international money transfer services at the bank’s branch locations.
Earlier, Western Union used to provide its money transfer services across more than 650 BSM’s locations. With the recent tie-up, Western Union seems to be undertaking a substantial expansion endeavor by adding more than 750 BSI locations within the former’s financial network. As a result, Indonesian customers can now indulge in both hassle-free sending and receiving money across over 200 countries and territories utilizing BSI locations of more than 1,400 spread across Indonesia.
Western Union already boasts of a strong base in Indonesia as it presently offers cross-border remittance services spanning over 20,000 Agent locations across the country. The latest move reinforces Western Union’s constant efforts to boost customer base and presence in Indonesia. BSI seems to be a suitable partner for complementing Western Union’s endeavor since both of them share a common goal of enabling seamless and convenient money transfer services between customers and their families globally.
Indonesia seems to be an attractive market for Western Union as the country has been identified as one of the leading remittance recipients in the East Asia and Pacific Region during last year, per World Bank. The COVD-19 pandemic induced disruptions necessitated the use of digital means and accelerated its adoption.
The country’s digital market holds ample growth prospects, which in turn, is likely to keep generating a favorable scenario for remittances in the days ahead. Per a report of Deloitte, tech savvy customers, rapidly growing e-commerce market and substantial technology advancements are likely to drive Indonesia’s digital industry. An article published in the World Economic Forum mentions that Indonesia’s digital economy has witnessed the fastest growth rate compared to other industries. The same source anticipates the country’s digital economy to attain $124 billion by 2025, which indicates a substantial uptick from the 2020 figure of $44 billion.
Time and again, Western Union has entered into alliances with financial service providers worldwide in a bid to bolster its digital capabilities. It has made substantial investments to build a robust digital arm. The company’s services are likely to remain in important in the days ahead due to the fact that moving funds across borders on a real-time basis takes less time and results in reduced costs. Also, it remains the preferred choice for partners owing to a robust network covering several bank accounts, digital wallets and cards, and over 550,000 retail locations and a diversified customer base.
Another company, MoneyGram International, Inc. MGI offers money transfer services across Indonesia. Other companies such as PayPal Holdings Inc. PYPL and American Express Company AXP operates across Indonesia and provides a wide array of online payment methods.
Zacks Rank & Price Performance
Shares of Western Union, which carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), have lost 1.2% year to date compared with the industry’s decline of 9.7%. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
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