YellowPepper is the first vendor in Latin America to be selected for the program.

Western Union introduced the Digital Vendor Program earlier this year. The program is intended to extend the reach and accessibility of Western Union Money Transfer® services to mobile finance initiatives across the globe.

YellowPepper provides products and services that enable mobile financial transactions between financial institutions, businesses and consumers in Latin America. The company offers a variety of services, including mobile top-ups, transfers from a bank account via cell phone, and bill payments via mobile. The company currently has operations in seven countries: Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Panamá, Perú and the United States. In addition, YellowPepper has agreements with major mobile operators in the region, including Claro and Movistar.

"YellowPepper is well-known for providing convenient, easy-to-use services throughout Latin America," said Matt Dill, SVP and Head of Western Union Digital Ventures. "They also have strategic relationships with some of the biggest mobile operators in the region, and we feel that this alliance is a great opportunity to introduce cross-border transactions into their established, trusted system."

Western Union is certifying mobile platform vendors to reduce integration costs and accelerate go-to-market activities for banks and mobile operators by creating standard technical deployments. Once a bank or mobile operator contracts with Western Union to activate the Western Union® Mobile Money Transfer service, its consumers will be integrated with Western Union's core transaction processing system. This system supports Western Union's global network of more than 350,000 Agent locations in over 200 countries and territories.

"Each YellowPepper product addresses essential financial needs," said YellowPepper Founder and President Serge Elkiner. "Now, more than ever, mobile financial solutions are critical to Latin America's underserved financial community. We are very excited about working with Western Union, a global leader in payment services and money transfers, to introduce cross- border mobile money transfer services in our region."

Other vendors in Western Union's Digital Vendor program include: South Africa-based Fundamo, India-based mChek, U.S.-based Sybase 365 and Singapore-based Utiba Pte.