KOTAK MAHINDRA BANK & WESTERN UNION PAYMENT SERVICES

 

 

KOTAK MAHINDRA BANK & WESTERN UNION PAYMENT SERVICES (INDIA) LAUNCH DOMESTIC MONEY TRANSFER

Unique Business Correspondent model facilitates inclusive banking across India

Mumbai, India — July 2, 2013 — Kotak Mahindra Bank Limited (Kotak Mahindra Bank) and Western Union Payment Services (India) Pvt. Ltd. (Western Union), a leader in global payment services, today launched ‘Domestic Money Transfer (DMT)’ services in India under a Business Correspondent (BC) model. Direct to bank domestic money transfers will facilitate a vast section of unbanked and banked Indians to remit their hard earned money to most banks across India at ease to their family members and relatives during and beyond traditional banking hours.

Under the arrangement, Western Union is the Business Correspondent (BC) of Kotak Mahindra Bank. Tata Consultancy Services, one of the largest technology service providers in the financial inclusion space, is providing the technology solution.

The services will be available from today at 500 retail locations throughout the country with significant location expansion plans by the end of the year.

Speaking on this occasion, Uday Kotak, Executive Vice-Chairman and Managing Director, Kotak Mahindra Bank said, “This tie-up is a boost to our financial inclusion agenda. We are proud to be the link for connecting Indians, even non Kotak Mahindra Bank customers, to help them remit money across rural, semi-urban, urban and Metro centres to most bank accounts in India.

 “Our aim is to leverage the vast network of Western Union to facilitate domestic remittances, giving Indians greater access to move their hard-earned money reliably and speedily, and through regulated channels”, added Mr. Kotak.

Officiating at the formal announcement ceremony in Mumbai, India today, Western Union’s President and Chief Executive Officer, Hikmet Ersek said, “As a business correspondent of Kotak Mahindra Bank, we have the potential to use more than half of our Agent locations to offer domestic money transfers across India’s banking network.

Ersek continued, “Our vision is to become the world’s premier financial services provider for people around the globe who have unmet financial needs. To achieve this, we are pursuing a multi-product, multi-channel strategy to enable consumers to manage their finances any way and any time they want.”

 “One of the most important lessons that Western Union has learnt in recent years is that incredible things can happen when different industries collaborate and combine their advantages. Countries with large population, such as India, are leading the way in creating environments that encourage companies to collaborate and facilitate innovative financial inclusion,” Ersek added.

 

 

For more detail, Please contact:

Atul Malikram

[email protected]