Western Union has brought its MasterCard Gift Card and the Western Union GoCash Service to the UK, beginning its journey towards becoming a worldwide program manager:
“Western Union (NYSE: WU), a leader in global payment services, announced today that it is extending its prepaid card platform to the United Kingdom with the launch of both the Western Union MasterCard Gift Card and the Western Union GoCash Service SM, providing consumers with convenient new ways to share money with friends and family anytime of the year – including the upcoming holiday season.
The launch marks the first international extension of Western Union’s prepaid program outside of the United States with further expansion planned in coming months to Asia, Latin America and additional European countries.”
The article indicates that these cards support Chip&Pin and that InComm will be the distributor in the UK:
“The Western Union MasterCard Gift Card, is the first product in its category offering a unique “Chip&PIN” function making it among the most secure gift cards available to the UK market. Western Union announced that an agreement with InComm, the industry leading marketer, distributor and technology innovator of stored-value gift and prepaid cards, makes way for the expansion of the Western Union GoCash service, an in-lane prepaid money-transfer service.
With the GoCash service, consumers have the option to select packages with any of three prepaid amounts ranging from £50; £100 and £200. GoCash cards can be used for both domestic and international money transfers. Once purchased, the sender will need to complete the transaction over the phone through a Western Union customer service representative and provide the money-transfer information to the receiver.”
The race to capture global market share is clearly well underway.