Western Union expands its UK retail footprint with its services available at 170 Sainsbury’s Travel Money bureaux

LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Sainsbury’s Bank, the UK’s first supermarket bank, today announced a new relationship with the Western Union Company (NYSE: WU), a leader in global payment services.

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Western Union will provide Western Union Money Transfer® services in around 170 Sainsbury’s Bank Travel Money bureaux in Sainsbury’s stores across the UK, serving many of the most densely populated cities, including London, Leicester, Glasgow and Birmingham.

The new relationship with Western Union is part of Sainsbury’s Bank’s strategy to offer customers a compelling reason to bank and shop at Sainsbury’s. Therefore, the agreement also includes making Western Union’s consumer-to-consumer (C2C) money transfer services available in future Sainsbury’s Travel Money bureaux.

Simon Taylor, Head of Travel Money for Sainsbury’s Bank, said: “Our new relationship with Western Union means we can address our customers’ needs to provide a reliable transfer of money overseas whilst delivering great service and the convenience of doing it while they are in store doing their shopping.”

Odilon Almeida, President, Americas and European Union at Western Union said: “Sainsbury’s is a high-quality customer-focused brand and is a key part of our strategy to offer consumers even more ways to access our services to send or receive money. We are confident that customers will be happy and benefit highly from this association.

“It has been our intention for some time to diversify our network in the UK and to work with top British retail brands to offer convenience for new and existing customers. This move underpins our diversification and innovation, making our trusted services available to new and time-poor consumers from ever more convenient locations,” Almeida continued.

Sainsbury's Bank also provides a Travel Money service at its bureaux. Customers have the option of ordering foreign currency online, over the phone or in-store and collecting it free of charge from a bureau that is most convenient to them. Currency can also be delivered directly to their home (charges may apply when selecting home delivery).

This press release is information for journalists only and is not intended to be a promotion to be acted upon by consumers.

Notes to the Editor

Sainsbury's Bank:

To view our latest press releases and product information, please visit the Sainsbury’s Bank online media centre at www.sainsburysbank.co.uk/media.

Sainsbury’s was the first major British supermarket to open a bank, commencing trading in February 1997. Benefiting from a fantastic, trusted brand that enables us to combine the shopping experience with personal finance, Sainsbury’s Bank provides a range of quality products, including insurances, credit cards, savings and loans. Our proposition is to make shopping more rewarding by offering customers great products at fair prices, while consistently rewarding shoppers for their loyalty and being easy to do business with at all times. Our products consistently top best buy tables and regularly win awards for quality, price and service.

Sainsbury's Finance is a trading name of Sainsbury's Bank plc. Sainsbury's Supermarkets Ltd is an appointed representative of Sainsbury's Bank plc. Sainsbury's Bank plc., Registered Office, 33 Holborn, London EC1N 2HT (registered in England and Wales, no. 3279730) is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority (Register no. 184514).

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 Western Union Business Solutions branded payment services, Western Union provides consumers and businesses with fast, reliable and convenient ways to send and receive money around the world, to send payments and to purchase money orders. As of March 31, 2015, the Western Union, Vigo and Orlandi Valuta branded services were offered through a combined network of over 500,000 agent locations in 200 countries and territories and over 100,000 ATMs and kiosks. In 2014, The Western Union Company completed 255 million consumer-to-consumer transactions worldwide, moving $85 billion of principal between consumers, and 484 million business payments. For more information, visit www.westernunion.com

WU-G, WU-F

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Source: Western Union