DENVER—With the coronavirus pandemic locking down much of the world, Western Union has introduced “Digital Location,” a service which enables users to send and receive money from their homes.
The money transfer operator is running a pilot of the combined telephone and video service, which connects customers to an agent to assist with the transfer, in Austria, Belgium, Italy, Portugal and Oman, Finextra reported.
The move away from the traditional hands-on exchange at physical locations comes as more countries implement coronavirus-related lockdowns, Finextra said.
“Due to limited services via retail locations in some areas impacted by restricted movement guidelines, we are seeing increased demand for our online services. We are happy to now offer another way for our customers to reach out to their loved ones with care and support,” said Western Union President and CEO Hikmet Ersek. “It is more critical than ever to enable our customers to send money to family and loved ones or help importers and exporters to pay their suppliers. Money flows are a vital source of income for many of our customers, including our business clients and partners. Amid all the current uncertainty, we are doing everything we can to keep money moving to where it is needed most.”