Western Union has launched its first mobile application in the Philippines. The new app allows users to both send and receive money internationally, a feature that’s currently not available in other markets.
This makes the Philippines the first market globally where Western Union customers can use a single app for all their cross-border money transfer needs. Previously, similar app versions in the Asia-Pacific region only allowed people to collect money sent to them. Now, Filipinos can also request money from relatives abroad and initiate transfers to other countries themselves.
According to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, remittances hit a record high of 38 billion US dollars in 2024. The World Bank also reported that the Philippines was the fourth largest recipient of remittances among low and middle income countries last year, with the United States and Singapore being major sources of these funds.
Through the new mobile app, customers can connect to Western Union’s vast global network. This includes billions of bank accounts, millions of digital wallets, and a retail network of thousands of agent locations worldwide.
Filipino users can pay for transactions using the national QR PH system. Like its traditional system, each transfer can be tracked using a unique money transfer control number (MTCN) or MTCN for security purposes.
When receiving money, users can choose to collect it as cash from an outlet, have it deposited directly into their bank account, or sent to a digital wallet. They can also send funds to another account after they are received.