Western Union and United Bank for Africa Expand to New Countries   

 London, 26 Nov- (ANA)-The Western Union Company, best known for its global money transfer services, and United Bank for Africa (UBA), have announced that the Western Union Money Transfer service is now live across more than 500 UBA locations in Nigeria.

 This is in addition to their existing joint offering in Burkina Faso, Guinea, Senegal, Tanzania with Gabon and Kenya soon to be added.

 Western Union began working with UBA this year in accordance with a global agreement with the bank with a view to extending the relationship to every African country where UBA has operations.

 Speaking on behalf of Western Union, Regional Vice President for Ecowas Aida Diarra said: “As Africa’s ‘global bank’ with a significant branch network across the continent and ambitious growth targets, UBA is an excellent addition to our global Agent network complementing our extensive reach across Africa.”

 However there is more work to be done in Africa to provide access to formal channels - even with the continent’s largest financial service networks comprising nearly 21,000 Agent locations, Western Union currently reaches a ratio of just under 50,000 people per location.  Based on an estimated population of 1 billion (UNPF, State of the World Report 2009) and an estimated 81% of the working age population remain without access to financial services.” (ANA)

FA/ANA/26 November 2010-----