Western Union is moving to wind down its money transfer service in Russia following a dip in demand, RBC reported citing a letter sent by the company to partner banks in the country.

The news was confirmed to the publication by a Western Union representative and a source in the payment market.

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According to the letter sent to partner banks by Western Union, it will stop facilitating transactions within Russia beginning 1 April 2022 due to low demand for domestic transfers in the market.

The company will continue to offer cross-border remittance services in the country, where domestic transfer segment is dominated by banks.

Western Union representative was quoted as saying by the publication: “The company focuses on the development of the traditionally demanded service of international money transfers and continues to develop a multi-channel platform that allows Western Union partners to quickly and in compliance with all regulatory requirements launch transfers abroad for their clients.”

In addition to halting its domestic money transfer system, Western Union is also reducing its existing limit of internal transfers to RUR500000 starting 24 March 2022.

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As per the existing limit, Western Union users can make international payments of up to $75,000 (RUR 570000).

Other developments at Western Union

In December last year, Western Union partnered with financial institutions in Ukraine and across the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) to enable their customers make cross-border payments via its omni-channel network.

Last October, the firm joined the Single Euro Payments Area Instant Credit Transfer scheme to expand its real-time payment capabilities across Europe.

The same month, it concluded the previously announced the acquisition of a 15% stake in Saudi Arabia-based stc Bank for $200m.