Western Union gains ground with Chinese students

Chinese students, who account for the largest chunk of international students in US colleges, are increasingly using Western Union solutions for tuition fees and money remittances from home, a top company official said.

The United States-based global payments solution provider has teamed up with Chinese online and mobile payment company ChinaPay and China CITIC Bank to provide these services. Western Union saw a 20 percent growth in the number of renminbi transactions by Chinese students in the first six months of this year, compared with the same period last year, said company officials.

The Colorado-based financial services company announced a partnership with ChinaPay at the end of 2012 to allow Chinese international students to make tuition and education-related payments more easily. It partnered with Beijing-based China CITIC Bank last June as the number of Chinese students studying overseas continued to grow.