| One of the world's biggest money wiring companies is joining forces
with the State Postal Bureau to provide fast and safe cash transfer business in China. Under
an agreement signed on Wednesday with Western Union, the United States money remitter,
Chinese people will soon be able to go to post offices across the country to send or
receive money from overseas through a network which has 101,000 locations in 185 countries
and regions.
To wire money, customers will simply have to fill in a simple form at the post
office and pay the cash to be wired and the appropriate fee.
They will be given a reference number and the recipient will be able to cash in
the request by showing identification or quoting the number at any of the Western Union
locations. Chinese people will still have to follow the country's foreign exchange control
regulations when sending money overseas, according to Peng Min'an, an official with the
bureau.
Since renminbi is still not a convertible currency, Chinese people can only send
foreign currencies overseas, he said.
The new service, which will only open to individuals, will not hurt the postal
bureau's traditional international remittance business, Peng said.
The postal bureau currently transfers money to or from 23 countries and regions.
More than 200 post offices across the country have been approved by the central bank to
conduct international remittance business.
It usually takes several days or even longer for the money to get to its
destination.
``By introducing Western Union as our partner, we will be able to provide diverse
services for our customers,'' Peng said. "If they want their money to be transferred
as quickly as possible, they can choose the Western Union service. If time is not an
issue, they can choose the ordinary remittance service, which usually costs less.''
China is expected to become a net recipient because many overseas Chinese send
huge sums of money home every year.
Western Union expects co-operation with the State Postal Bureau to generate big
business because there are more Chinese living overseas than people from any other
countries, said William Thomas, president of Western Union International.
The company entered the Chinese market in 1994 in co-operation with the Express
Mail Service (EMS), a fast delivery department of the State Postal Bureau, said Richard
Tynes, the company's area vice-president in the Asia-Pacific region.
"There are about 5,000 transactions every month by EMS,'' he said. "Now,
co-operation with post offices can generate much more businesses.''
Tynes said the business would first start in coastal cities before the end of this
month and move gradually to inland areas.
Western Union started its money transfer business in 1871. It now handles about 89
million global transactions a year.
(China Daily by Liu Weiling)
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