Western Union has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire a minority stake in the fast-growing Saudi Digital Payments Company (known as stc pay), a fully owned subsidiary of the Saudi Telecom Company).
According to the terms of the transaction, Western Union will invest up to $200 million for up to 15 percent ownership of stc pay. Western Union adds that, in conjunction with the investment, the companies have extended the terms of their commercial relationship.
stc pay has rapidly developed into a leading digital wallet service in Saudi Arabia, which is described by Western Union as a young and quickly developing market that offers huge potential for digital services.
Certainly the numbers look promising. The stc pay service claims a base of over four million customers and an established regional brand in the fast-growing digital wallet market. It’s a potential that clearly looks attractive to Western Union, a leader in cross-border, cross-currency money movement and payments, which says it believes that stc pay is poised to experience strong growth in the future.
As noted earlier, Western Union already has a relationship with stc pay, providing money transfer services that allow stc pay’s users to send money from its app to over 200 countries and territories in more than 130 currencies through Western Union’s extensive global network of accounts, wallets, cards and retail.
It’s clearly an exciting time for payment services across Africa and the Middle East, where the popularity of mobile money offerings is attracting major names eager to be part of what seems to be unstoppable growth.
