Western Union in deal to expand network in Palestine

Western Union, a leader in money transfer and global payment services, said it had signed an agreement with Quds Bank in the Palestinian Territories to offer Western Union money transfer services.
The deal increases Western Union’s agent network in the Palestinian Territories to seven with Housing Bank, Cairo Amman Bank, Jordan Commercial Bank, International Center for Quick Transfer (ICQT), Abdeen Exchange and Al Fardos Exchange being the other six agents.
Quds Bank, which earlier offered the Western Union money transfer service as a sub-agent, will now operate as an independent agent for Western Union.
Hatem Sleiman, Western Union’s regional vice president, Near East, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Sudan, said: “Western Union has a widespread presence in the Palestinian Territories with nearly 80 agent locations across the country and the number of agents has grown to seven with this agreement with Quds Bank, through which we intend to continue catering to the need of Palestinian people to send and receive money. A number of Palestinian people work in foreign countries and support their families back home through remittances. Hence we constantly strive to ensure that our customers can easily send and receive money. Through Quds Bank we hope to grow our agent locations and provide a service that is not only easy and convenient to use but also to access.”
Azzam A. Shawwa, general manager at Quds Bank, added: “Quds Bank takes great pride in catering to its customers’ needs and demands by providing the best in the field in terms of banking products and services. We are extremely happy to have upgraded our relationship with Western Union to become one of their main agents as we intend to provide Western Union’s services through all our 21 branches to our customers.”