MasterCard, Western Union partner to fuel growth of electronic payments

MasterCard and The Western Union Company have announced a global agreement that will make electronic payments, including prepaid cards and money transfers, more efficient and convenient for consumers around the world.

Today, an estimated 2.5 billion adults worldwide are financially underserved, and within the United States, more than a quarter of the adult population is excluded from the financial mainstream.

Prepaid cards and money transfers are helping build bridges to provide consumers with reliable, convenient and affordable forms of financial services.

MasterCard and Western Union have been working together to provide prepaid card services for the past year.

The expanded global relationship makes MasterCard the preferred brand for Western Union-sponsored prepaid programs around the world and makes Western Union the preferred money transfer service for MasterCard.

Consumers will have access to a global network to transfer and load funds onto prepaid cards.

Western Union and MasterCard prepaid cardholders will be able to reload their prepaid cards at MasterCard rePower locations as well as at participating Western Union(R) Agent locations.