DUBAI, June 15, 2013 /PRNewswire - MySolutionInfo/ --Western Union (NYSE: WU), a leader in money transfer and global payment services today announced that it has signed an agreement with AlexBank, the Egyptian subsidiary of the Intesa Sanpaolo Group, to offer Western Union® money transfer services in Egypt. With this agreement, Western Union has increased its agent network in Egypt to three, with over 200 agent locations offering its services.

Under the agreement, AlexBank will initially provide the service in 50 select branches across the country from where customers can send or receive money; the number of branches will be increased to over 120 by the end of Q1 2014.

Jean Claude Farah, Western Union ' s Senior Vice President, Middle East and Africa said, "Western Union connects consumers in some of the most remote corners of Egypt to the rest of the world by maintaining an unsurpassed agent network of over 90 locations across Egypt; and 515,000 retail locations in 200 countries and territories. This agreement with AlexBank consolidates our market presence, taking our agent locations to over 200 owing to their nationwide network of branches. Over 6 million Egyptians live abroad[1], a number that's continuously growing, and so is the need for a money transfer service that's reliable and easy to use but also convenient in terms of accessibility for the sender and the receiver."

Egypt accounts for over 40 percent of total remittance inflows to the MENA region and the country saw a six-fold increase in remittances over the last eight years to become the largest recipient ahead of Lebanon, Morocco, Jordan and Tunisia according to the World Bank.

Bruno Gamba, Chairman of ALEXBANK , added, "Western Union represents the latest in the Intesa Sanpaolo Group's continuous efforts to provide world class services throughout our network. Both entities, with the support of the Central Bank of Egypt, have put in a tremendous effort to bring this to light."

About AlexBank
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