Western Union Pilots Bill Pay Service for Banking

Western Union is in the production pilot stages of delivering a real-time payment processing solution for online banking, confirmed Steven Kramer, vice president of electronic payments at Western Union. The system is on schedule to be rolled out late in the first quarter of 2009, Kramer says. Western Union’s solution aims to eliminate a common problem with online bill payment systems: delayed processing of payments. In some cases, Kramer says, companies that process online bill payments for bank customers then cut a check and mail it to the creditor, which lengthens the amount of time before the payment can be posted and processed.

Western Union processed 404 million transactions in 2007.

Written By Victoria Fierson and Mary Wisniewski