Dive Brief:

• Global food retailer Carrefour Group and money transfer company MoneyGram International plan to add MoneyGram’s services across more than 500 Carrefour locations next year, according to a Friday press release.
• The partnership will enable Carrefour customers in Europe and Latin America to transfer funds in about 200 countries and territories, according to the announcement. The French retailer has about 14,000 stores in almost 40 countries. The two companies have previously linked to offer MoneyGram services at Carrefour locations in Romania, according to a September 2009 press release.  
• As part of the tie-up, Dallas-based MoneyGram will manage the operations for the service, including compliance, customer service and technical implementation, according to the release.

Dive Insight:

The collaboration between the two in Romania for more than a decade has helped confirm Carrefour’s customers need and want money transfer services, Benjamin Dubertret, Carrefour’s group director of financial and merchant services, said in the news release.

“As consumer demand continues to vary based on market-specific needs, we understand the importance of providing options,” said Alex Holmes, MoneyGram chairman and CEO, said in a statement. “This partnership with one of the largest retailers in the world underscores our ongoing commitment to putting customers first and driving access to convenient and reliable cross-border payments.”

Holmes noted the growth opportunity the expanded collaboration provides for the money transfer company. MoneyGram has sought to grow its reach in recent years by entering into such partnerships as it faces stiff competition from other money transmitters.

In 2021, MoneyGram partially attributed its 3.6% decline in third-quarter revenue on pricing actions taken to compete with rival Western Union at Walmart stores. Meanwhile, MoneyGram faces competition from Euronet’s Dandelion, which provides remittance services across 190 countries, and younger money transfer fintechs such as Remitly and Wise. 

The international payments race has also sped up in recent years. The Clearing House and EBA Clearing partnered with Swift in 2021 to create a real-time, cross-border payment system. A full roll-out of that system could occur as soon as the fourth quarter of this year. 

Amid that competitive landscape, MoneyGram has pursued new service offerings. Last July, the company partnered with cryptocurrency services startup Wyre to enable customers in about 100 countries to convert their fiat currency into digital assets and to cash out of their digital currencies. In November of last year, MoneyGram added a service that allows customers to buy, sell and hold crypto on its mobile app. 

MoneyGram’s partnership with Carrefour comes as the company is set to be acquired by private equity firm Madison Dearborn Partners. In January, MoneyGram said in a news release it was awaiting a final regulatory approval by the Reserve Bank of India, and that the transaction was expected to close late in the first quarter or early in the second quarter. 

A MoneyGram spokesperson declined to comment on whether the deal has closed.

The company has also faced scrutiny from regulators. Last year, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau sued MoneyGram for allegedly failing to deliver funds promptly to international recipients.