The Western Union Company has grown its reach in Mexico with the ability to send money from the United States directly into nearly all bank accounts in Mexico.
Article continues below
Customers in the United States can now send money via the Western Union® mobile app, westernunion.com and retail Agent location channels, directly into millions of bank accounts in Mexico.
The company has also significantly increased the amount of Western Union Agent locations in Mexico to nearly 13,600—adding 3,200 locations in 2015, across the Western Union, Vigo® and Orlandi ValutaSM brands—giving customers more options for cash pick-up across urban, rural and remote Mexico.
Based on Banco de Mexico data, Western Union’s U.S.-to-Mexico transaction and principal growth has outpaced the market. The amount of money customers send through all three brands has been growing ahead of the market for twelve consecutive quarters, while transactions have grown for more than eleven consecutive quarters. During the same periods, the Mexico market grew on average five percent in principal and seven percent in transactions.
In the U.S., Western Union is attracting a new category of digital savvy customers who are increasingly using the Western Union mobile app and westernunion.com to send money to Mexico. This is in addition to existing customers using the Western Union, Vigo and Orlandi Valuta retail Agent network.
Western Union has grown together with Mexico for more than two decades. The company’s expanding retail presence in Mexico emphasizes convenience, and now account payout is appealing to a banked population, which has grown to 40 percent from 27 percent three years ago.
Mexico has a long tradition of international migration, with more than 13.2 million or 9.4 percent of its native population living overseas2. According to the World Bank, Mexico–United States is the largest migration corridor in the world3.
In 2015, remittances to Mexico totaled $24.8 billion, according to Banco de Mexico, growing 4.75 percent over 2014.
While U.S. senders account for more than 90 percent of the money moved into Mexico, Western Union transferred money to Mexico from more than 180 countries last year. Funds are primarily used for food, housing and education.
There are more than 80 million bank accounts in Mexico, according to the National Banking and Stock Commission. ■