Visa extends Money Transfer Service to online banking users in China and the UAE

In China, Visa has partnered financial services provider ICBC to offer the Money Transfer Service. The ICBC Visa Money Transfer program will be available initially in Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen and will provide the bank’s 70.8 million internet banking customers with an additional channel for funds transfers to Visa cards globally. The new Visa Money Transfer service targets account holders with family members working or studying abroad, primarily in Canada, United Kingdom, Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, France and Germany.

For consumers in Hong Kong, EPS Hong Kong (EPS), an online bill payment platform provider owned by 21 financial institutions, has also launched a Visa Money Transfer service. The service will be immediately available to customers of Standard Chartered Bank and Wing Hang. It gives customers of these banks in Hong Kong the ability to transfer funds to 14 countries in nine currencies either by phone or via its PPS online portal. Combined, the ICBC and EPS programs will help to deliver Visa Money Transfer to more than 72 million new consumers in Greater China.

Visa and UAE Exchange, a global remittance and exchange house in the United Arab Emirates, have partnered to offer the cross-border Visa Money Transfer program. The service will be offered through UAE Exchange’s network of 79 branches across the country. The service is scheduled to launch later in November, using Visa Processing Services for transaction processing.

Visa has also announced the launch of a new managed service that aims to reduce the time and development investment required for a financial institution to offer Visa Money Transfer to its customers. Initially available in Canada and the United States, the service is intended to promote a more rapid adoption of the service in marketplaces worldwide.

Senders can initiate a Visa Money Transfer to make person-to-person payments, send funds to friends or family members, or make account transfers. Sender channels through which a Visa Money Transfer can be initiated include internet banking, Automatic Teller Machines (ATM), self-service kiosks, in person at a bank branch or via the telephone.