The payments division of Western Union has integrated with the Swift Global Payment Initiative for faster transfers, and has added international currency options.
The increase in currency options to 130 within the WU Mass Payments API provides more choices for cross-border payments clients of Western Union Business Solutions.
The WU division says it has a growing portfolio of business customers seeking greater operational efficiencies for payments worldwide. Swift, a financial messaging standards provider for international payments, introduced its GPI initiative nearly five years ago as a way for its network of banks to operate under similar processes and standards, as well as fuel innovation.
Swift GPI has generally acted as a
As a Swift GPI member, Western Union Business Solutions says it will provide clients with increased visibility and certainty that their payments will rapidly reach their intended destination.
"The immediate benefit of WUBS joining the Swift GPI is improved tracking of payments," said Scott Johnson, head of product for Western Union Business Solutions. "Over the next few months, WUBS customers will get access to real-time data on the status of their wire payments within the correspondent networks."
Such an arrangement will help customers "work with their counterparts to facilitate fast and effective reconciliation, and ultimately help them get their jobs done faster," Johnson said.
"We look forward to taking advantage of improved transaction speeds via GPI over time, as that functionality matures across the Swift network," Johnson added.
A Swift executive was not available for comment at publication time.
The expansion of the currencies supported through the Mass Pay APIs was a separate effort for Western Union. "While we utilize Swift for some of the payment messages from Mass Pay, we also use a variety of local payment networks to get funds to payees rapidly and reliably," Johnson said.
WU Mass Pay enables recipients to obtain built-in, real-time foreign exchange quotes to better monitor international payment rates. Users can send up to 10,000 payments in more than 130 currencies in a single batch payment with near real-time tracking and reporting functions. It also provides automated notification of changes to payment status with the option to route payments over the Western Union Business Solutions global network.
"Customers expect, and now have, payments that are faster, traceable, transparent, consistent, and more reliable. We give them that, along with our global compliance program," Johnson noted.
The Western Union cross-border payment global network spans 200 countries and territories, providing the company with vast knowledge of local markets.
