Western Union’s global digital remittance business has made some monumental strides since the outset of the worldwide pandemic in early 2020. According to official sources at the company, digital money transfers were up more than 35% by the last quarter of 2020.

Western Union’s stock price, too, has risen precipitously since the start of the previous year. It was up to $25.08 by mid-April 2020 from $21.66 in January of 2020. The company’s strong suit is discoverable in its ability to maintain international regulatory compliance; more specifically its capacity to navigate complex cross-border networks of finance. This has allowed Western Union to thrive within the international digital money transfer industry.

With its recent success, the company is well-positioned to exceed revenue expectations in 2021 and beyond. Not only does the organization anticipate dominating on the retail level, their analysts expect to see strong results from their digital remittance services, which now make up over 20% of their overall consumer revenue. Digital remittance is a mammoth $700 billion market, 50% of which is controlled by international correspondent banks. And in recent months, Western Union has set its sights on the Saudi digital money transfer market by partnering with Saudi Digital Payments Company.

According to Western Union’s CFO, Raj Agrawal, “People are typically using their banks to move money around the world.” He goes on to explain that the company Western Union “can be the white label provider or branded partner to these banks to give them a turnkey solution to move money from one country to another.” Indeed, there’s a substantial migrant community in Saudi Arabia that needs to move money quickly and securely. From Argawal’s perspective, this presents some rather promising prospects for expanding Western Union’s customer base and driving further growth.

For more than 170 years, it has been at the forefront of the international money transfer market, finding the most innovative solutions for individuals and businesses alike. With such a deep track record in working so effectively within the wider global finance network, it continues to flourish. The worldwide flow of money is inherently complex, yet Western Union has been so adept, over such a long period, at simplifying the international currency transfer process.

Creating customer value, foremost, has always been its mission. This, in part, is why they’ve come to be such a significant leader in the global remittance market. The company prides itself on having earned the trust of its individual customers by helping them securely transfer money between family and friends. One can’t argue with its recent success because the data is fully supported in the company’s impressive revenue earnings, year over year. Western Union shows little signs of slowing down as the group continues to reinvest in its robust digital platform.

As the organization looks toward the future, Western Union wants to keep evolving its digital payments technology while maintaining a strong leadership presence within the international remittance market. Even before the pandemic, the group reported double-digit growth, finding new customers choosing their digital money transfer services every day. This is undoubtedly owed to the fact that Western Union has remained committed to improving its digital platform across the board. The company sought faster page performance and an easier customer registration process to produce one of the most effective digital interfaces in the money transfer industry.

Western Union fully expects its emphasis on enhancing the consumer’s digital experience will contribute to even more customer growth as we move into the final quarter of 2021. The company reports that digital money transfers have already increased more than 44% on a constant currency basis. It attributes this to an increase in customer-to-customer business trends which was evidenced by a substantial uptick in 2020. At the top of the company’s agenda for the remainder of the year is to continue improving its customers’ digital experience to attract more active users to its site.

Western Union has reported some impressive results while dominating the remittance market over the past two years. As it focuses on enhancing the digital aspects of its money movement services, one can only expect the company to forge even stronger international banking partnerships to find similar results in the coming years.