Walmart extends MoneyGram, adds Ria to expand international funds transfer
Walmart announced plans to create an international money transfer marketplace with its Walmart2World customers by extending its existing deal with MoneyGram and adding Ria to transfer international funds at any of the big box retailer's 4,700 U.S. stores.Â
Walmart said the move will provide more payout options, more payout locations and more competitive foreign exchange rates.Â
"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," Wilbert Noronha, vice president, financial services at Walmart, said in a company release. "The addition of Ria at Walmart2World, which creates a competitive platform for exchange rates that we believe will help deliver more value, is simply the next step in our journey."
As part of the move, Walmart has extended its existing agreement with MoneyGram until 2021.Â
"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," Alex Holmes, CEO at MoneyGram, said in the release.
MoneyGram officials said in their own announcement that the white label Walmart2World product represented about 9% of its overall revenue in the third quarter, but said it was not immediately known how much this new move would impact its business.Â
Juan Bianchi, CEO of Euronet's money transfer segment, said the company was excited that Walmart chose to expand its money transfer service with Rio, which he said would provide more choice and the most economical and transparent funds transfer option.Â
Cover image: Walmart.