Western Union has made an offer to buy fellow money transfer outfit MoneyGram, according to Bloomberg.
No deal has been finalised and Western Union could still pull out, says Bloomberg, citing a person familiar with the matter.
The two companies have been rivals for decades but more recently have faced up to competition from a host of younger, digital outfits. Both still rely heavily on their vast physical networks, which have been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
MoneyGram was almost bought in 2017 by China's Ant Financial but the $1.2 billion agreement failed to pass muster with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States.
Since then, it has struck a deal with Ripple, which agreed to invest up to $50 million in MoneyGram as part of a two-year partnership that will see the latter use the blockchain startup's XRP digital currency for cross-border payment and foreign exchange settlement.