Western Union, PETNET expand payout services

Global payment service provider Western Union is expanding its national retail network in the Philippines by adding 1,200 new agent locations.

The expansion follows an agreement with PETNET, Inc., also known as PERA HUB, Western Union’s largest agent network in the Philippines and its sub-agent LBC.

More than 1,200 LBC branches nationwide will now pay-out money transfers received from more than 200 countries and territories. Western Union currently has 5,900 agent locations across the Philippines (as of June 2017).

The Philippines is the third largest recipient of remittances globally. Overseas Filipino Workers send their hard-earned money to families back home, to pay for urgent needs, regular family expenses, education, or medical expenses.

“At Western Union, we are committed to moving money for better, providing fast, reliable and convenient money transfers across all 81 provinces in the country. This collaboration will make it even more convenient for our customers to access Western Union global money transfers with the addition of LBC as a subagent of our long-standing principal Agent PETNET, Inc.,” said Jeffrey Navarro, Western Union Country Director.

According to recent data provided by Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, remittances from January to July of this year totaled $16.1 billion, an increase of 5.0 percent. With the Christmas season right around the corner, remittances are expected to grow through the end of this year.

PETNET changed its brand name to PERA HUB in April 2016 to better describe its portfolio of services. Its branch network is geared towards the services of Western Union with products such as bills payment and money changing. Its retail brand Pera Hub, provides a one-stop shop for pera loan, pera palit, pera travel, pera pay, pera protect and pera load.

PERA HUB sub-agent LBC is the market leader in retail and corporate courier, cargo and logistics services. To date, it has a network in over 30 countries.