Western Union expands in Malaysia with Valyou mobile wallet

WESTERN Union, a global leader in cross-border, cross-currency money has expanded international money transfer services in Malaysia by integrating its services with the Valyou mobile wallet, a service offered by Valyou, a Malaysian financial technology subsidiary of the Telenor Group.

A collaboration between the two companies will enable customers in Malaysia to send money to Western Union agent locations across Bangladesh, Indonesia, Philippines, India, Vietnam, Myanmar, Cambodia, China and Nigeria, with a few clicks using the Valyou mobile wallet.

Customers will benefit from fast transfers with both platforms integrating through Application Programming Interface (API).

The Valyou mobile wallet is popular in the rural areas of Malaysia bridging services in largely underbanked and financially underserved communities. Cashing in funds is made via Valyou's 1,500 wallet Cash In Cash Out merchant locations.

“With Valyou being a leader in the international remittance mobile wallet space with a large network penetrating the rural areas in Malaysia; and with Western Union, a global leader in cross-border, cross-currency money movement, having a large number of locations in the receiving countries, this union offers a convergence of convenience for both senders and receivers,” said Valyou chief executive officer Prasanna Rao.

“This collaboration is a key enabler in expanding funds payout to a wide network of countries. We are always driven to provide a seamless experience for customers. Today, Valyou sees a significant number of its transactions being sent from rural locations in Malaysia and this corresponds on the receiving side with 80% also residing in rural parts of their country. This collaboration doubles down on convenience to our Valyou wallet holders and their receivers, enabling them to now collect funds closer to their homes,” he said.

“We stand for convenient money movement, serving global citizens to help build bridges across economies, geographies and cultures. Through our collaboration with Valyou, we meet the ever-changing technology-led convenience preferences of our established customers as well as reaching out to the unbanked and underbanked communities, further expanding our access in rural Malaysia.

“We are delighted to share our vision of bettering lives and connecting the global economy together with Valyou,” stated Jeffrey Navarro, regional director – Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei, Western Union.

“We look forward to working with Western Union as this partnership embodies Valyou and Western Union's vision to promote greater financial inclusion through digitally enabled mobile wallet services. We have a clear objective to encourage formal remittance and we want to continue doing so through the partnership,” added Prasanna.