Western Union Certifies Ericsson’s Wallet Platform for Mobile Money Transfers: Positions Electronic Channels for Growth

ENGLEWOOD, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Western Union Company (NYSE: WU), a leader in global payment services, today announced that it has certified the Ericsson Wallet Platform. With this certification, Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC) can now offer its operator customers the ability to include Western Union^® Mobile Money Transfers in their financial services portfolios enabling end-users to send and receive money across borders using their mobile phones.

“We’re continually evolving and expanding our services—both digitally and in our Agent locations—so that we can offer even more choice and convenience to consumers”

“We’re continually evolving and expanding our services—both digitally and in our Agent locations—so that we can offer even more choice and convenience to consumers,” said Nick LeCuyer, vice president of strategy and distribution, Western Union Digital. “Ericsson and Western Union together offer a powerful combination of global scale and brand awareness, operator relationships, and complementary mobile expertise. Together we believe we can bring mobile financial services to more places around the globe.”

Ericsson’s Adam Kerr, head of M-Commerce, said: “Western Union is a leader in global payment services and now our mobile operator customers will be able to include Western Union Mobile Money Transfers in their mobile financial services portfolios. The seamless integration of the Western Union service within our Ericsson Wallet Platform is a powerful statement of intent and a direct result of the strategic alliance we announced with them at Mobile World Congress 2012.”

Ericsson’s M-Commerce services portfolio is designed to unlock the potential of the mobile wallet, fast-track mobile operators’ time to market for deploying mobile financial services, and support the rapid adoption of m-commerce by their subscribers.

Western Union is a leader in money transfer. The company began offering mobile money transfer services in 2009 and today the ability to send or receive funds using a mobile device is available in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, El Salvador, Guatemala, Indonesia, Kenya, Madagascar, Malaysia, Paraguay, the Philippines, Tanzania, Uganda, Vietnam, and the U.S. Its integration within the Ericsson Wallet Platform enables mobile operators to access the company’s global money transfer network of more than 480,000 Agent locations across 200 countries and territories.

This milestone stems from the strategic alliance Western Union and Ericsson announced at Mobile World Congress 2012 in Barcelona, Spain: http://ir.westernunion.com/News/Press-Releases/Press-Release-Details/2012/Ericsson--Western-Union-join-forces-to-fast-track-mobile-financial-services/default.aspx.

To learn more about the Ericsson Wallet Platform, Converged Wallet, and other M-Commerce solutions, visit: http://www.ericsson.com/ourportfolio/telecom-operators/m-commerce.

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 December 31, 2012, the Western Union, Vigo and Orlandi Valuta branded services were offered through a combined network of approximately 510,000 agent locations in 200 countries and territories. In 2012, The Western Union Company completed 231 million consumer-to-consumer transactions worldwide, moving $79 billion of principal between consumers, and 432 million business payments. For more information, visit www.westernunion.com.

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