BARCELONA, Spain, Feb 18, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- The Western Union Company (NYSE: WU), a global leader in money-transfer services, announced today that it has certified two participants in its Mobile Vendor Program: India-based mChek and South Africa-based Fundamo.

In addition, Western Union announced that it has selected Comviva, a leading provider of mobile value-added solutions in emerging markets in Asia, Africa and the Middle East, to participate in the program.

Western Union announced the launch of the program - formerly called the Digital Vendor program - at the GSMA Mobile Money Summit in Barcelona, Spain, in June of last year. The program is intended to extend the reach and accessibility of Western Union Money Transfer^(R) services to mobile finance initiatives in Latin America, Africa, the Middle East and Asia.

"We're pleased to announce the certification of mChek and Fundamo and to welcome Comviva to the program," said Khalid Fellahi, Western Union's Senior Vice President, Africa, and Head of Mobile Transaction Services. "By collaborating with these vendors, who are well-known as experts in their fields, we believe we can put the power of Western Union on the mobile phones of more people around the world."

mChek and Fundamo are the first to be certified in Western Union's program. Other participants include Singapore-based Utiba, U.S.-based Sybase 365, YellowPepper, a mobile vendor in Latin America, and now, India-based Comviva.

Mobile operators who sign agreements with certified Western Union Mobile Vendors and Western Union will be able to offer their subscribers the option to send and/or receive money through Western Union's money transfer system. Mobile Money Transfer (MMT) is currently available through select Agent locations as Western Union embarks on a program to extend availability to more locations during 2010.

Western Union entered the mobile financial services space in the second quarter of 2008, with an endorsement for a global pilot program by the GSM Association, a global trade association representing more than 750 mobile operators worldwide.

In addition, the company has pilot agreements with global mobile operators Smart Communications and Globe Telecom in the Philippines, Safaricom in Kenya, Vodafone in the U.K., Zain Group in Africa, Orascom Telecom in the Middle East and Africa and Maxis in Malaysia.

About Fundamo

Fundamo's Enterprise Mobile Financial Services platform is architected for configurability and scalability to evolve with the needs of mobile subscribers to deliver increasingly compelling, tailored and differentiated mobile financial services as the market matures. The company's vision is for a truly connected financial services ecosystem that supports the ubiquity of mobile devices.

"We are both proud and excited to be working with a global market leader such as Western Union," said Hannes van Rensburg, CEO of Fundamo. "Our Enterprise platform is built to evolve with the needs of mobile subscribers, and we look forward to working with Western Union to deliver increasingly compelling, tailored and differentiated mobile financial services to consumers around the globe."

Fundamo has some 40 deployments in over 30 countries, including 27 countries in Africa and the Middle East and another 10 globally.

About mChek

mChek offers a hosted service for Mobile Money Transfer and secure payments using credit cards, debit cards, bank accounts and stored-value wallets. mChek is certified PCI-DSS 1.2 and ISO 27001. SIM Toolkit, J2ME/BREW, WAP, IVR and USSD platforms are supported in a seamless manner, and can be launched in 30 to 60 days. mChek's payment platform is approved by Visa and certified on leading SIM card platforms including Gemalto, Oberthur, G&D, Sagem/Syscom, Watchdata and Sharon Solutions.

"Our certified integration with Western Union, a leading global money-transfer service provider, and our hosted, out-of-the-box platform ensures minimal time to market and zero risk for MNO's to introduce Mobile Money Transfer services," said Sanjay Swamy, CEO of mChek. "With our pre-integrated, certified turnkey service, MNO's can now focus on the business, marketing and operational issues rather than worry about technology and integration. We welcome operators from around the world to get started with Mobile Money Transfer right away."

mChek is live in India to customers of Bharti Airtel (110 million subscribers), Tata Indicom (40 million subscribers) and in Sri Lanka with Dialog Telekom (6 million subscribers). Additionally, pilots with mChek are underway in five other countries.

About Comviva

Comviva delivers a broad suite of mobile value-added solutions that drive revenues for service providers across over 80 markets globally. Comviva's multi-award winning mobiquity(TM) mobile money solution extends access to financial services for mobile users across emerging markets. By transforming the mobile into a cash-free and card-free payment and transaction medium, the mobiquity(TM) platform extends a range of convenient and secure pay-as-you-go formal financial services to banked and unbanked users, including cash deposit and disbursal, money transfer and mobile payments.

"This alliance exemplifies our commitment to continuous innovation in the mobile money space," said Manoranjan Mohapatra, CEO, Comviva. "Selection by Western Union, a global leader in money transfer services and cross-border transactions is further recognition of Comviva's leadership in extending mobile money services to under-served segments globally. International remittance via the mobile is the next logical step and this partnership expands mobiquity's(TM) capabilities in this regard considerably," commented Manoranjan Mohapatra, CEO, Comviva.

Comviva is the leading provider of mobile VAS solutions in emerging markets. Comviva's solutions help power services to over 500 million mobile subscribers globally. With an extensive portfolio that easily integrates into a mobile operator's business environment and includes mobile financial solutions, mobile music and video applications, messaging and business support systems, Comviva's solutions reach one in three mobile users in the emerging markets of Asia, Africa and the Middle East. For more information, please visit www.comviva.com.

About the Mobile Vendor Certification Program

The Western Union Mobile Vendor Program is open to mobile finance platform vendors who have successfully deployed a mobile money offering. Certified vendors agree to maintain current version control against the Western Union Money Transfer service interface. Certification is a technical designation and is subject to periodic review by Western Union. Mobile operators and banks interested in offering Western Union services should contact mobilemoneytransfer@westernunion.com. A direct contractual relationship with Western Union is required to activate Money Transfer services.

About Western Union

The Western Union Company (NYSE: WU) is a leader in global payment services. Together with its Vigo, Orlandi Valuta, Pago Facil and Custom House-branded payment services, Western Union provides consumers and businesses with fast, reliable and convenient ways to send and receive money around the world, as well as send payments and purchase money orders. Western Union, Vigo and Orlandi Valuta-branded services are offered through a combined network of more than 410,000 agent locations in 200 countries and territories. In 2009, The Western Union Company completed 196 million consumer-to-consumer transactions worldwide, moving $71 billion of principal between consumers, and 415 million business payments. For more information, visit www.westernunion.com.

WU-G

SOURCE: The Western Union Company

Western Union
Kristin Kelly, +1 720-332-4751
kristin.kelly@westernunion.com 

Copyright Business Wire 2010