Sainsbury‘s Bank, the UK‘s first supermarket bank has announced a new relationship with the Western Union company, a global payment services specialist.
Western Union will provide Western Union Money Transfer services in around 170 Sainsbury‘s Bank Travel Money bureaux in Sainsbury‘s stores across the UK, serving many of the most densely populated cities including London, Leicester, Glasgow and Birmingham.
The new relationship with Western Union is part of Sainsbury‘s Bank‘s strategy to offer customers a “compelling reason” to bank and shop at Sainsbury‘s. Therefore, the agreement also includes making Western Union‘s consumer-to-consumer (C2C) money transfer services available in future Sainsbury‘s Travel Money bureaux.
Simon Taylor, Head of Travel Money for Sainsbury‘s Bank said: “Our new relationship with Western Union means we can address our customers‘ needs to provide a reliable transfer of money overseas whilst delivering great service and the convenience of doing it while they are in store doing their shopping.”
Massimiliano Alvisini, Regional Vice President, Northern Europe at Western Union added: “Sainsbury‘s is a high-quality customer-focused brand and is a key part of our strategy to offer consumers even more ways to access our services to send or receive money. We are confident that customers will be happy and benefit highly from this association.
“It has been our intention for some time to diversify our network in the UK and to work with top British retail brands to offer convenience for new and existing customers. This move underpins our diversification and innovation, making our trusted services available to new and time-poor consumers from ever more convenient locations.”
Sainsbury’s Bank also provides a Travel Money service at its bureaux. Customers have the option of ordering foreign currency online, over the phone or in-store and collecting it free of charge from a bureau that is most convenient to them. Currency can also be delivered directly to their home (charges may apply when selecting home delivery).
