US-based retail company Walmart has announced an expansion of its low-cost, flat-fee money transfer services to include an international money transfer marketplace at its 4,700 US Walmart stores in collaboration with MoneyGram and Ria.
Walmart began a flat, low-fee domestic money transfer service called Walmart2Walmart five years ago, and introduced the model to the global money transfer service market with the launch of Walmart2World last year.
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The company claimed that consumers who used the platforms since 2014 have saved around $1bn in total costs due to Walmart’s ‘Every Day Low Price Strategy’, which increased competition and reduced consumer costs.
The company said that customers using Walmart2World can choose either MoneyGram or Ria when making an international money transfer.
Walmart US financial services vice-president Wilbert Noronha said: “When we launched Walmart2Walmart and Walmart2World, our goal was to create a platform with money transfer principals that enabled customers to have more choice when transferring money to friends and family around the country and the world.
“The addition of Ria to Walmart2World, which creates a competitive platform for exchange rates that we believe will help deliver more value, is simply the next step on our journey.”
Walmart2World will offer customers more choices for payout methods, payout locations and more competitive foreign exchange rates, at a flat, low-cost transfer fee. Walmart has extended its agreement with MoneyGram until 2021.
MoneyGram chief executive officer Alex Holmes said: “Walmart’s vision of creating a marketplace for financial services will benefit consumers through pricing and payout options, and we believe that our leading brand and competitive foreign exchange rates will help drive the future success of the marketplace.”
Euronet money transfer segment CEO Juan Bianchi said: “We are excited Walmart has chosen to expand its relationship with Ria in their mission to provide customers more choice and the most economical and transparent services at the best price.
“This expanded product offering reflects our great relationship with Walmart and our joint mission to offer customers more choice at a better value when sending money abroad.”
