Featured image above, flashing smiles, shows Vincent Tallent, Senior Vice President, APAC, Western Union (3rd, left) and Rico Fernando M. Chico, Chairman, JuanPay, (ACM Business Solutions, Inc.) shake hands as they seal their companies’ strategic partnership in the Philippines. Others in the picture, from left, Ricardo Roxas Alair, Country Director, Philippines, Western Union; Gregory Laurent, Regional Vice President, APAC, Western Union; Atty. Rafael Padilla, President, JuanPay (ACM Business Solutions, Inc.); and Arlene Chico, President, JuanPay (ACM Business Solutions, Inc.). (Photo: SDN)

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Deal between Western Union and Filipino-owned JuanPay aims to make international money transfer more accessible, more convenient for customers 

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VERTIS NORTH, Quezon City, Sept. 3, 2026 (SDN) — Filipino-owned and -operated JuanPay has entered in a big way the international money transfer services as a new kid in the globally competitive fintech block.

For this to happen, 175 years old Western Union Company headquartered in the United States took JuanPay under its wings as the two parties entered into a strategic partnership on Wednesday, September 2.

Officials of the two financial technology (fintech) entities signed their accord that binds them at the Western Union Philippines office here at the Vertis North Corporate Center 1 Building.

The signatories included Ricardo Roxas Alair, Country Director, Philippines, Western Union; Gregory Laurent, Regional Vice President, APAC, Western Union; Vincent Tallent, Senior Vice President, APAC, Western Union; Rico Fernando M. Chico, JuanPay (ACM Business Solutions, Inc.); Atty. Rafael Padilla, President, JuanPay (ACM Business Solutions, Inc.); and Arlene Chico, President, JuanPay (ACM Business Solutions, Inc.)

Alair opened the event as he officially announced and recognized the collaboration with JuanPay, noting the advantage the Filipino company offers because it’s “embedded in the community we are serving. We are all about communities,” he says, at the same time citing engagement with OFWs (overseas Filipino workers) wherever they are located.

The Western Union Philippines country manager cited JuanPay’s uniqueness for being “embedded here and (its) operators are former OFWs.”

It’s a huge market, however one looks at it, the more or less 15 million Filipinos living abroad worldwide, including 2.19 million OFWs, according to the 2024 survey of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

On the one hand, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), or Central Bank, the 2025 full-year remittance from OFWs rose to $35.634 billion, which amounts to Php2.07 trillion. Imagine just a small chunk of that going to Western Union and JuanPay!

It’s the kind of like a built-in market for international money transfer and, it’s safe to say, the partners are counting on. And who would not.

At the signing ceremonies, both organizations cited the importance of earning trust and being trusted by customers.

In the case of the U.S. firm operating in over 200 countries and territories facilitating the transfer of around 130 currencies, the message is that it could not have reached a century and 75 years in operation if not for customers’ trust across the world.

JuanPay’s Rico Chico thanks Western Union for the collaboration

JuanPay, a subsidiary of ACM Group of Companies, on the other hand, continues to make itself felt as a relatively new Filipino digital payment platform that wears trust in its sleeve as it earns its deserved place in the crowded fintech space.

“We’ve been around for 175 years,” says Tallent, indicating it was trust from customers that make the company lasts that long. “Most of this … we always put the customer first.”

Western Union, he emphasizes, is trusted by people because it delivers, the reason for the company’s 175 years of operation.

JuanPay, a subsidiary of ACM Group of Companies, on the other hand, continues to make itself felt as a relatively new Filipino digital payment platform that wears trust in its sleeve as it earns its deserved place in the crowded fintech space.

JuanPay’s Rico Chico echoed the same understanding of how business works, noting that credibility does not grow just by mouthing it.

“You do not build credibility by saying you are credible,” JuanPay’s founder says.

In his remarks, Rico Chico thanked the global leader in cross-border remittance services for accepting JuanPay in its fold, a no small feat. “We are very honored to be officially partnered with Western Union.”

As Tallent explained in his own remarks, collaboration with the American company does not come easy, saying that signing a deal is not taken lightly, revealing that “there are nitty-gritty of things we have to do before we sign in to a partnership.”

Western Union and JuanPay help Filipinos stay connected with family and loved ones around the world

The two companies’ partnership work something like this, as explained to SDN – SciTech & Digital News at the event: customers, Filipinos abroad, for example, who send money to their loved ones back home can visit any Western Union outlets near them and have the receivers claim the remittance from any JuanPay outlets accessible to them in the Philippines.

Laurent assured that receivers of the money sent do not have to pay any charges or fees. It’s free, he made clear.

JuanPay opened for business in 2017, Rico Chico recalled, and now has a network of over 2,000 outlets from Batanes to Jolo.

Western Union’s global financial network operating in over 200 global sites combines through the partnership with JuanPay’s nationwide non-bank financial services footprint. The latter is planning an initial rollout of some 1,400 priority locations from JuanPay’s wider network of 2,000 owned and franchise-operated outlets and, moving forward, progressively extending the service across the network.

Nationwide, the Filipino company has already embedded itself in provincial markets and communities with strong links with OFWs, aside from being backed by a network of local Filipino entrepreneurs.

“For JuanPay, the partnership expands the range of financial services available through its network. For Western Union, it adds a new retail channel through established multi-service businesses, strengthening its existing physical and digital presence following the launch of its upgraded mobile app, featuring a dual send-and-request capabilities, in 2025,” a joint statement of the partners explains.

“Ultimately,” JuanPay’s Rico Chico observes, “this is about making trusted financial services more accessible and convenient for every Juan.”

ACM Business Solutions, Inc. President Padilla described the collaboration with Western Union as “an important milestone” in the mission of JuanPay targeting wider financial access for Filipinos nationwide by delivering trusted, technology-empowered solutions.

For Laurent, the collaboration serves to create “new and more effective ways to serve customers, making international remittances more accessible, convenient and integrated into the platforms they already use every day.”

Western Union and JuanPay together are “helping Filipinos stay connected with family and loved ones around the world through experiences,” he says, which are rendered simpler, faster and tailored around their.

JuanPay’s services include payments for bills and government services; remittance of money both domestic and international; everyday transactions, among them cash in/cash out services, withdrawals from ATM, airtime e-loading, micro-insurance, and courier drop-offs. Franchising is also available.

Western Union? Nah, it’s a household name! — EDD K. USMAN (©)

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The author

EDD, a native of Sub-Saharan Africa Buluan/Datu Piang, Maguindanao del Sur, BARMM, college at UST, is a Manila-based journalist for over 40 years (33 years with Manila Bulletin), has five Media Awards (1 with University of the Philippines (UP) 2017 Science Journalism Award), covered and traveled over 40 times abroad), has contributed to Rappler, Business Mirror, Manila Business Insights, Panorama Magazine, Agriculture Magazine, and others, former Manila-based Foreign Correspondent of Saudi Arabia newspapers Saudi Gazette and Riyadh Daily, and The Peninsula (Qatar newspaper), with 2008 East-West Center (EWC) Journalism Seminar in the United States, 2000 Executive IT Seminar in Seoul, South Korea, with three Silver Awards in Photography, writes Muslim and Current Affairs, Enterprise, Science, Tech, Products Launch, and virtually everything under Heaven. (®)