Western Union Wins FinTech Breakthrough Award for “Consumer Payments Innovation”
16.3.2021 15:05:00 EET | Business Wire | Press release
The Western Union Company (NYSE: WU), a global leader in cross-border, cross-currency money movement and payments, today was named winner of the “Consumer Payments Innovation Award” in the fifth annual FinTech Breakthrough Awards for 2021. The company’s innovative cross-border money transfer solution was awarded for its ‘plug and play’ technology used by a growing number of financial institutions to offer seamless, convenient, reliable, and fast international money transfer capabilities for their customers, connecting them to more than 200 countries and territories and over 130 currencies.
Western Union’s White Label Digital Partner technology solution enables FIs to use their existing branded customer technological interface to provide international money transfer services. FI’s customers can fund the transfers drawing from their linked bank accounts, wallets, or cards and choose to pay their receivers through the world’s widest-reaching networks, operated by Western Union, accessing billions of bank accounts, millions of digital wallets, and cards, and over half a million retail locations.
The FinTech Breakthrough Awards is the premier awards program founded to recognize the FinTech innovators, leaders, and visionaries worldwide in various categories, including Digital Banking, Personal Finance, Lending, Payments, Investments, RegTech, InsurTech, and many more. The 2021 FinTech Breakthrough Award program attracted more than 3,850 nominations from across the world.
“Western Union continues to deliver stellar customer experiences for consumers and businesses, moving money around the world every day, simplifying international money transfer complexities, including compliance, regulatory control, and settlement in over 130 currencies. Western Union has taken decades of innovation in serving its own branded customers and is now offering this functionality in a breakthrough white-label arrangement, driving even more cross-border connections for the wider financial sector,” said James Johnson, Managing Director, FinTech Breakthrough.
FinTech Breakthrough Awards perform the most in-depth evaluation of the sector to recognize the creativity, hard work, and success of innovative FinTech companies, technologies, and products worldwide.
“We are thrilled with the 2021 FinTech Breakthrough Award win and are honored with the recognition for our innovative cross-border money movement ‘plug and play’ capability, offered white label or branded as a part of our Digital Partner technology solution,” said Western Union President of Global Network, Jean Claude Farah.
Farah continued, “FI customers can initiate transactions from their bank website or mobile app and send directly to beneficiaries’ bank accounts, mobile wallets, cards, or for in-person cash pickup throughout Western Union’s leading global financial network bridging more than 200 countries and territories and over 130 currencies. With our Western Union Digital Partner technology solution, FIs can count on us to handle the cross-border payout of transactions seamlessly, in minutes, at scale, and in compliance with national and international regulations.”
The opening of Western Union’s cross-border platform and global financial network to third parties marks a strategic step to evolve Western Union to a diversified payments company, accessing adjacent cross-border money movement segments, and adding incremental customers.
FIs and the customers they serve no longer need to be confined to expensive, unpredictable, traditional cross-border payment channels. Western Union’s solution keeps the customer experience firmly in the hands of the FI - from the user interface to branding to pricing - while Western Union takes care of the complexities of the cross-border payout to the beneficiary. Additionally, Western Union’s robust compliance and risk ecosystem supports partners with sanctions and interdiction screening, and real-time risk assessment to detect and prevent fraud while also meeting local regulatory requirements for payouts.
About Western Union
The Western Union Company (NYSE: WU) is a global leader in cross-border, cross-currency money movement and payments. Western Union’s platform provides seamless cross-border flows, and its leading global financial network bridges more than 200 countries and territories and over 130 currencies. We connect businesses, financial institutions, governments, and consumers through one of the world’s widest-reaching networks, accessing billions of bank accounts, millions of digital wallets and cards, and over half a million retail locations. Western Union connects the world to bring boundless possibilities within reach. For more information, visit www.westernunion.com.
About FinTech Breakthrough
Part of Tech Breakthrough, a leading market intelligence and recognition platform for technology innovation and leadership around the globe, the FinTech Breakthrough Awards program is devoted to honoring excellence in Financial Technologies and Services companies and products. The FinTech Breakthrough Awards provide public recognition for the achievements of FinTech companies and products in categories including Payments, Personal Finance, Wealth Management, Fraud Protection, Banking, Lending, RegTech, InsurTech, and more. For more information, visit FinTechBreakthrough.com.
WU-G
To view this piece of content from cts.businesswire.com, please give your consent at the top of this page.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210316005405/en/
Contact information
Media Contact
Rachel Rogala, Western Union
Rachel.rogala@wu.com
+1 303-808-2674
About Business Wire
For more than 50 years, Business Wire has been the global leader in press release distribution and regulatory disclosure.
Subscribe to releases from Business Wire
Subscribe to all the latest releases from Business Wire by registering your e-mail address below. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Latest releases from Business Wire
Sharjah Advocates More Dominant Role for Women in Technology under 2050 Roadmap24.9.2026 19:38:00 EEST | Press release
As artificial intelligence reshapes global economies, the UAE is placing women at the heart of its global ambitions positioning them not only as participants, but as key contributors to the AI future. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260924186173/en/ Women leaders and technology experts during a session at the Women in Technology 2026 Forum in Sharjah (Photo: AETOSWire) The message was echoed by Her Highness Sheikha Bodour bint Sultan Al Qasimi, Chairperson of the Sharjah Research, Technology and Innovation Park (SPARK), who urged women to move beyond participation in technology to playing a leading role in shaping the future. Addressing the seventh edition of the Women in Technology 2026 Forum, hosted by SPARK on the theme “The 2050 Mindset,” HH Sheikha Bodour said: “2050 may seem far away, but it is being shaped by the decisions we make, the research we fund and the technologies we develop today. Women must t
MultiBank Group Founder and Chairman Naser Taher Named Financial Leader of the Year at Gulf Business Awards 202624.9.2026 18:39:00 EEST | Press release
Naser Taher, Founder and Chairman of MultiBank Group, one of the world’s largest financial derivatives institutions, was named Financial Leader of the Year at the Gulf Business Awards 2026. Presented during a ceremony held on 23 September at The Ritz-Carlton JBR, Dubai, the award was part of the Editor’s Choice category. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260924454616/en/ Naser Taher, Founder and Chairman of MultiBank Group, one of the world’s largest financial derivatives institutions, was named Financial Leader of the Year at the Gulf Business Awards 2026 The recognition comes after Taher lead the expansion of MultiBank Group for more than two decades, from its founding in 2005 to a financial institution serving more than four million clients across 100 countries today. Under his leadership, the Group has built a presence under more than 18 financial regulators across five continents and recorded daily trading
Multiple Industry Honors Reinforce CSG/Netcracker Leadership in Customer Journey Orchestration and AI Innovation24.9.2026 18:05:00 EEST | Press release
The next phase of customer experience hinges on how well brands turn customer data into relevant communications, real-time action, and responsible, proven AI use. CSG® and Netcracker Technology today announced that CSG has been named a Leader in The Forrester Wave™: Customer Journey Orchestration Platforms, Q3 2026, with the highest possible scores in 19 of 23 Forrester Wave™ criteria. CSG Xponent, a best-in-class customer engagement platform, helps brands land timelier, more relevant communications that drive customer action, secure loyalty, and bolster measurable business results. The Forrester Wave™: Customer Journey Orchestration Platforms states that, “CSG earns superior scores across the core journey intelligence and orchestration capabilities that define this market. Its excellent journey simulation, predictive intelligence, and decisioning capabilities help organizations evaluate likely outcomes before introducing changes into live journeys, improving decision confidence and re
Vasion Ⓡ Enhances Global Partner Program to Accelerate AI-Powered Automation24.9.2026 17:05:00 EEST | Press release
VasionⓇ, the Intelligent Print Automation platform trusted by more than 14,000 organizations worldwide, today unveiled a comprehensive refresh of its Global Partner Program. The program delivers the resources partners expect from Vasion: always-on incentives, structured onboarding, elevated enablement, and a rebuilt portal experience, all engineered to help partners scale, compete, and deliver stronger customer outcomes as agentic AI reshapes how enterprises automate work. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260924791639/en/ Agentic print and document workflow environments remain an overlooked channel opportunity, as enterprises race toward agentic automation. IDC forecasts that by 2026, 40% of all Global 2000 job roles will involve working with AI agents, redefining long-held traditional entry-level, mid-level, and senior-level positions [1]. IDC's research points to this new class of AI reshaping not just how fa
The Only AI Crypto Lead Prioritization Solution Built With Law Enforcement, for Law Enforcement: Elliptic Launches Pulse24.9.2026 16:15:00 EEST | Press release
Elliptic, the global leader in on-chain risk, today launched Pulse. Pulse puts crypto lead prioritization directly in the hands of every frontline law enforcement and government officer. Crypto now touches every part of law enforcement, from the patrol officer on the street to the detective assigned to investigate the case. Pulse gives each of them a quick, accurate financial summary and a starting point: whether that's a crypto address on a suspect's phone, in a scam ATM victim's receipt, uncovered during a vehicle or pocket search, or found at the scene of an overdose, an arrest, or a seizure. An officer can input anything that looks like a wallet address or transaction hash. Pulse identifies it, reasons over the result, and returns a summary in plain language, enough for the officer to decide on the spot whether the case needs escalation. If a case needs further investigation, one click sends the full analysis forward, not just the evidence. The criminal investigations division gets
In our pressroom you can read all our latest releases, find our press contacts, images, documents and other relevant information about us.
Visit our pressroom