By Stanley Opara

The Western Union Company has concluded agreements to roll out the Western Union Money Transfer service across the Spring Bank, Fidelity Bank and Afribank agent networks in Nigeria.

The announcement formed part of Western Union’s ongoing expansion programme in Nigeria and would add more than 500 agent locations to the company’s existing network in the country once live, the company said in a statement on Tuesday.

Western Union celebrated the company’s 15th anniversary in Nigeria in 2010, having entered the market in 1995, being the first money transfer operator to operate in the country.

Commenting on the addition of new agents, Regional Vice-President for ECOWAS, Western Union, Ms. Aida Diarra, was quoted in the statement as saying, “2010 was a milestone year for Western Union in Nigeria. We grew our network to over 4,000 locations, maintaining our position as the largest money transfer operator in the market and we are delighted to begin 2011 in such a positive way.”

The full roll-out across all three networks is expected to be concluded by the end of April 2011, bringing even more access to Western Union consumers in Nigeria, the statement explained.

“The expansion of our agent network is aligned with our core strategy of providing consumers with the option to transact when, where and how they choose,” she added.

Source: Punch