Western Union and Mastercard Deepen Partnership; Shares Gain

The Western Union Company (WU) and Mastercard (MA) have disclosed plans to strengthen their strategic partnership. Following the news, shares of Wester Union and Mastercard gained 1.5% and 2.6%, respectively.

With this deal, Mastercard Send will expand into Western Union’s global money movement network. The integration will allow beneficiaries of Western Union transfers in the U.S. to re-direct any U.S. domestic transaction to any debit card network within a few minutes. (See Western Union stock chart on TipRanks)

Further, Western Union customers across 16 European markets will be able to leverage Mastercard Send to send money transfers directly to their receiver’s Mastercard debit card.

The second integration involves Mastercard’s Cross-Border Services delivery via Western Union Business Solutions. This will help strengthen bank and trade network relationships. (See Mastercard stock chart on TipRanks)

Executives Commentary

Gabriella Fitzgerald, the President of Western Union’s business in the Americas region, said, “This is just one more example of the world’s leading financial services companies coming to Western Union for our technology, expertise and the power of our omni-channel global financial network to meet their cross-border money movement and payments needs.”

“Western Union is a critical partner for Mastercard as together we focus on digitizing and modernizing the movement of money — for consumers and businesses. Combined, our networks offer unique global reach, for efficient and secure transactions,” said Leigh Amaro, the Senior Vice-President of Enterprise Partnerships at Mastercard.

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Analyst Recommendation

Consensus among analysts is a Hold based on 1 Buy, 5 Holds and 2 Sells. The average Western Union price target of $21 implies upside potential of 14.9% to current levels.

Bloggers Remain Bullish

TipRanks data shows that financial blogger opinions are 100% Bullish on WU, compared to the sector average of 70%.