Western Union Deepens Its Mastercard Integration With Send And Cross-Border Additions

The Western Union Co. is boosting its tie-ins with Mastercard Inc. by integrating the card brand’s direct-to-card and cross-border payments products.

Announced Friday, the integration sees Mastercard Send added to broaden Western Union’s payout capabilities in the United States. U.S. recipients of any Western Union transfer will be able to redirect the funds to a selected bank card. The service can load funds on any debit card network within the United State and deliver the money to a recipient’s debit-card-linked account.

In 16 European countries, the integration will enable sending money transfers in near real time, Western Union says, to a recipient’s Mastercard debit card. The service is live now and Western Union expects to add more countries in coming months.

For its part, Mastercard will integrate into Western Union’s Business Solutions network to pay out funds for Mastercard’s Cross-Border Services, the card network’s global push-payments platform.

In recent months, Western Union has added almost 4,700 U.S. Walmart Inc. stores to its network. And, in October, Mastercard announced its Cross-Border Services would be integrated into Previse Ltd.’s InstantPay platform.