Union Bank, Visa, Western Union to offer prepaid card product

MANILA, Philippines - Union Bank of the Philippines, Visa International and Western Union Co. are set to launch next week a prepaid card product which will further enhance both remittance and banking services to customers.

The product is expected to provide new options and innovations on how customers could spend their hard-earned money locally and globally.

Western Union, a world’s leader on global payment services, is confident it could expand its customer base with the launching of the product.

Most of Western Union’s clients are foreign workers predominantly based in the Gulf region.

In a recent study by Western Union, it was noted that despite the regional political turmoil and the continuing global economic slowdown, demand for foreign workers remains high in the Gulf Region.

“Despite the political uprisings and civil unrest in some parts of the Middle East and North Africa, the region is still witnessing moderate growth, and in the Gulf countries there is an even stronger imperative to sustain economic growth and meet social needs,” Jean-Claude Farah, Western Union’s senior vice president for the Middle East and Africa said in a statement.

“The Asia Pacific region has been a significant source of labor for Gulf countries - led by India, Philippines, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Thailand and Nepal. This study should instill greater confidence for global workers seeking employment in these countries,” Drina Yue, managing director and senior vice president for Asia Pacific region, said.

The Western Union-sponsored study, “The Economic Impact of the Uprisings in the MENA Region,” said that economic forecasts for Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries are much better that those for the Middle East North Africa region (MENA) as a whole, and in fact have been positive.

The GCC countries are Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The study’s lead author, Dr. Ahmed Farouk Ghoneim, professor of Economics at Cairo University, said real GDP growth in the GCC was expected to remain strong despite short-term disturbances, from a base of 3.1 percent to 20 percent in 2011.

Ghoneim said the Gulf region countries have limited exposure to the international financial crisis.

“In relative terms, the financial crisis and oil and food price increases have had only mild effects on MENA economies, owing to their limited integration into the world economy,” he said, adding, however, that Gulf countries did face modest inflationary pressures from increased social spending.

Within the MENA region, Ghoneim said, labor markets are facing different types of problems, but “migration and remittances constitute a common cure” for high unemployment in some countries of the region and the need for workers to sustain growth in others.

Together with its Vigo, Orlandi Valuta, Pago Facil and Western Union Business Solutions branded payment services, Western Union provides consumers and businesses with fast, reliable and convenient ways to send and receive money around the world, to send payments and to purchase money orders.

 The Western Union, Vigo and Orlandi Valuta branded services are offered through a combined network of approximately 500,000 agent locations in 200 countries and territories.

In 2011, The Western Union Company completed 226 million consumer-to-consumer transactions worldwide, moving $81 billion of principal between consumers, and completed 425 million business payments.