DENVER--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Today, Western Union (NYSE: WU), a global leader in cross-border, cross-currency money movement and payments, announced a new strategic partnership with AXA to leverage Western Union’s global omni-channel platform to deliver affordable life and disability insurance offerings to consumers in France, sending money via www.westernunion.com to 10 African countries. The partnership will initially be a pilot program which Western Union and AXA hope to grow and scale over time.
The initiative highlights the broader potential opportunities of Western Union’s strategy to leverage its unmatched global reach and omnichannel capabilities, and offer an ecosystem providing additional services to the 150 million customers that use the Company’s retail and digital platforms. Western Union has already been successful in partnering with other global companies such as Amazon, Sberbank, Saudi Telecom and others, in offering money transfer and payments capabilities. This pilot marks another important step toward offering adjacent financial services to existing customers integrated as a part of an ecosystem in its digital platform.
“This partnership shows the power of our global cross-border, cross-currency payments platform,” said Western Union CEO Hikmet Ersek. “Our long-term goal is to leverage our platform and digital capabilities to forge more partnerships and become a financial services ecosystem. In enabling third parties, including banks and other financial institutions, to tap into our ecosystem capabilities, these companies can offer similar services for their customers. We are pleased to offer insurance services in collaboration with AXA to serve our customers and their families who both know and trust Western Union.”
An initial pilot of the 'Transfer Protect' insurance, launched in France this week, offers a free one-month EUR1,000 AXA life and disability insurance product to Western Union's customers sending money to 10 countries in Africa via www.westernunion.com. Upon registration, the policy provides a designated family member or loved one in Senegal, Morocco, Ivory Coast, Madagascar, Cameroon, Mali, Benin, Togo, Congo, and Guinea, a lump sum payment should a qualifying life or disability event occur during the policy period.
The AXA Group is a worldwide leader in insurance and asset management, with 160,000 employees serving 108 million clients in 57 countries. A strategic pillar of the company is to accelerate business innovation to meet the rapidly evolving needs of customers in the digital world using a partner model.
"AXA is committed to scaling inclusive insurance through a business with a social impact approach," said Thomas Buberl, Chief Executive Officer of AXA. "We are excited by the prospect of leveraging Western Union's extensive network and trusted brand to reach its global customer base, thereby bringing accessible, relevant, and affordable protection to those who need it the most."
Ersek said, “Our customers around the world trust Western Union with their most important and complex money transfers. They also want other value-add services to sustain their financial well-being and long-term financial goals. Providing value to the global populations we serve is a key focus for our global strategy. This new partnership will provide a new way for us to facilitate value added products and services to the millions of immigrants and dual-belongers through westernunion.com.”
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About Western Union
The Western Union Company (NYSE: WU) is a global leader in cross-border, cross-currency money movement and payments. Our omnichannel platform connects the digital and physical worlds and makes it possible for consumers and businesses to send and receive money and make payments with speed, ease, and reliability. As of March 31, 2020, our network included over 550,000 retail agent locations offering our branded services in more than 200 countries and territories, with the capability to send money to billions of accounts. Additionally, westernunion.com, our fastest growing channel in 2019, is available in over 75 countries, plus additional territories, to move money around the world. With our global reach, Western Union moves money for better, connecting family, friends and businesses to enable financial inclusion and support economic growth. For more information, visit www.westernunion.com.
About The AXA Group
The AXA Group is a worldwide leader in insurance and asset management, with 160,000 employees serving 108 million clients in 57 countries. In 2019, IFRS revenues amounted to Euro 103.5 billion and underlying earnings to Euro 6.5 billion. AXA had Euro 969 billion in assets under management as of December 31, 2019.
The AXA ordinary share is listed on compartment A of Euronext Paris under the ticker symbol CS (ISN FR 0000120628 – Bloomberg: CS FP – Reuters: AXAF.PA). AXA’s American Depository Share is also quoted on the OTC QX platform under the ticker symbol AXAHY.
The AXA Group is included in the main international SRI indexes, such as Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) and FTSE4GOOD.
It is a founding member of the UN Environment Programme’s Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) Principles for Sustainable Insurance and a signatory of the UN Principles for Responsible Investment.
This press release and the regulated information made public by AXA pursuant to article L. 451-1-2 of the French Monetary and Financial Code and articles 222-1 et seq. of the Autorité des marchés financiers’ General Regulation are available on the AXA Group website (www.axa.com).
