French banking subsidiary La Banque Postale is teaming up with Western Union to expand cross-border payments, Western Union announced on Tuesday (Jan. 28).
La Banque Postale is the banking subsidiary of France’s postal services operator, La Poste Group, and is also one of the country’s biggest financial institutions (FIs). As a Western Union payment agent, it is working to grow digital payments across the globe.
La Banque Postale’s 10.3 million active customers have the option to put money toward payments either in the app or on its website using a bank card and then pay out at Western Union’s Global Retail and Wallet Network.
Hikmet Ersek, president and CEO of Western Union, said that through the collaboration with La Poste Group and La Banque Postale, consumers get the flexibility of an “omnichannel service” with “a fully digitalized web and app experience.”
Speaking from the Paris Fintech Forum 2020, he added, “Western Union’s advanced digital services mark an expansion of our open platform strategy as we help other leading global organizations solve the complexities of cross-border, cross-currency transactions.”
The collaboration gives La Banque Postale’s more than seven million registrants access to Western Union’s worldwide payment services. Western Union’s money movement platform provides La Banque Postale with real-time transfers around the world.
Western Union has been working closely with La Poste Group for 20 years, initially starting with international retail money transfer services.
La Banque Postale offers its customers tailored banking and insurance products and services that are available online and offline.
In June, Western Union partnered with Visa to expedite the movement of money globally and digitally across a range of use cases. One goal is to cut the paper chase in the global payments and remittances space.