Mexico’s Femsa said on Thursday its convenience store chain Oxxo had signed a deal with U.S. payments company Western Union (WU.N) that will allow customers to receive international money transfers in its stores in Mexico.
The company said that clients in more than 14,000 stores will be able to receive remittances worth up to 11,600 pesos ($603) per transaction, but that only 1,000 pesos will be issued in cash, with the rest deposited on a debit card with one of Oxxo’s existing banking partners.
Oxxo has agreements with at least 11 banks to offer financial services, as well as its own debit card linked to accounts with Citigroup’s (C.N) recently rebranded Citibanamex unit.
Remittances to Mexico, which are an important driver of retail sales, were 6.6 percent higher between January and August than in the year-earlier period.
Western Union signed a money transfers deal in July with Mexico’s biggest retailer, Wal-Mart de Mexico (WALMEX.MX).
(Reporting by Gabriela Lopez; Editing by James Dalgleish)
