Western Union Launches Money transfer service across Post Offices

The Western Union Company (NYSE: WU), a worldwide leader in money transfer services, launched the Western Union(r) Money Transfer service in association with the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications across its post offices in Sri Lanka recently.

In the first phase of this association, the Western Union Money Transfer service will be available throughout 637 post offices in the country, which will subsequently be extended to 3500 sub post offices, thus ensuring an island-wide reach. At present, Western Union operates through more than 3.007 Agent locations in Sri Lanka. peaking on the occasion, Minister of Posts and Telecommunications, Mahinda Wijesekara said, "We are extremely proud to join with Western Union, a global leader in money transfer services.

With this cooperation we can now offer Western Union's unique money transfer services to our customers, marking a successful blend of traditional values and ethics with modern infrastructure. With cooperation like this, people working abroad can easily remit money to their families in Sri Lanka.

This is a great value addition, which will empower us to cater to our huge customer base by providing them a broader platform to receive money from abroad in a fast and reliable way."

Remittances from Sri Lankans working abroad continue to play a supporting role in strengthening Sri Lanka's economy and is a major source of foreign resources into the country. According to the World Bank, Sri Lanka received $2.7 billion in 2007 making it the fourth largest remittance receiving country in South Asia.

"With its expansive global network, Western Union is uniquely positioned to deliver fast and reliable money transfer services to its consumers across more than 200 countries and territories worldwide. With the addition of the Sri Lankan Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications as an Agent, we will further expand our reach and strengthen our commitment to ensure easy accessibility of our services to our consumers in Sri Lanka", added Ratheesh Kumar, Country Director - Southern and Eastern India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka & Maldives, Western Union Financial Services.