Western Union Strikes Deal for Italian Remittance, Prepaid Card (Oct. 17, 2013)
Western Union is set to launch a new reloadable prepaid card in Italy in partnership with Lottomatica, a gaming technology solutions company that provides payment, reload and e-money services. The deal brings Western Union’s Paybefore Award-winning MyWU Prepaid Card to Italy, where it is targeted to serve more than 4 million migrant workers who can use the card to send money transfers, receive direct deposits from employers, make purchases in stores and online, and withdraw cash at ATMs. The MasterCard-branded card will be distributed at 15,000 Lottomatica retail partner locations, as well as online, and can be reloaded at 22,000 retail locations and 10,000 ATMs across Italy. The Italian market is well-established for prepaid cards, where Poste Italiane and Epipoli have made significant strides in cardholder adoption and distribution.
The partnership with Lottomatica falls under the umbrella of Western Union’s Global Share platform. Announced in March, Global Share enables Western Union to work more easily with partner companies that offer complementary products and services. Lottomatica is the first European company to sign on to the platform.
In late 2011, Western Union and MasterCard formed a global alliance to help make electronic payments, including prepaid cards and money transfers, more efficient and convenient for consumers around the world while making MasterCard the preferred brand for Western Union-sponsored prepaid programs globally. Since then, Western Union has tabbed prepaid as a major growth area, releasing products in an array of countries.
