Messaging-Based Payments Heat Up As Western Union Expands Its Link to Viber

The merger of messaging apps and payments took another step forward Wednesday with the news that The Western Union Co. is allowing U.K. users of the popular Viber service to send money from within the app. The deal follows a similar arrangement the money-transfer kingpin made with Viber for U.S. users of the app.

Six-year-old Viber connects more than 754 million unique users through video calls and group chats as well as through its messaging app. In 2014, it was acquired by Japanese online merchant Rakuten. Western Union’s network allows customers to send money to more than 500,000 agent locations in 200 countries and territories.

The Viber integration with Western Union allows users to send funds during a conversation and without leaving the app. In the U.K., users with credit or debit cards can send a maximum of £400 if the money is received at the location in cash. If the funds are transferred to a bank account, the cap is £500.

“We are pleased to grow our relationship with Viber to help enable its users the ability to conveniently send money via the Viber app to practically anywhere in the world,” said David Thompson, Western Union’s executive vice president for global operations and technology and the company’s chief technology officer, in a statement.

The new service takes advantage of Western Union’s WU Connect FinTech platform, which leverages application programming interfaces to let third parties integrate with its service for money transfers.

On Monday, technology firm Comtrade Digital Services announced it will provide chatbots for use on Viber to enable in-context payments and other banking functions. And earlier this year, Facebook Inc. said its Messenger service would begin supporting chatbots for shopping and payments. MasterCard Inc. and PayPal Holdings Inc. are among firms taking advantage of that opening.