ASDA Launches Own Money Transfer Service
UK Supermarkets giant ASDA has partnered with Ria Money, one of the world’s largest in-store money transfer providers, which operates in 145 countries, across 317,000 locations, to launch ASDA Money Transfers.
The service is already available online and is set to be rolled out across selected stores in the UK from June this year.
Customers will be permitted to transfer £1,800 per day at rates that Asda says will be benchmarked against rival services, and customers will be able to choose between bank deposits, home delivery and cash pay-outs.
Katie Walley, who is head of ASDA Money, commented:
“For all those who send money abroad on a regular basis, we wanted to provide a solution to the often-high prices they have had to pay from our competitors for so long. We will constantly benchmark our prices against the largest Money Transfer providers. That not only makes us better value, but also makes sure more of customer’s money goes to the recipient and less goes on fees”
Asda money customers will pay nothing for their first transaction, the supermarket chain says, and standard fees will start from just £4 for international transfers of £1-50 pounds, with a £7 fee charged for transactions from £50.01 to £650, and £13 for transfers of £650 plus.
Ria also partner with Walmart, who acquired Asda in 1999.
Juan Bianchi, CEO and President of Ria Money Transfer, commented:
“Asda Money Transfer Powered by Ria is another example of how Walmart and Ria, by combining our assets and cultures, create more convenience and better value for our joint customers, helping them Save Money. Live Better.’
The Money Cloud View
Asda has a customer base of around 19 million people, so this is probably a case of mimicking parent company Walmart, and deciding why not offer money transfers?
Above all, this highlights the need for customers to use money transfer comparison sites, such as The Money Cloud, to check who are genuinely offering the best rates for sending money abroad.
Asda may be gambling that a service in store capitalises on a captive audience and a relationship of trust with customers, but by no means does that mean Asda will offer the best rates in the marketplace. It always pays to check online before you send your hard-earned money overseas, especially when services like Transferwise or Azimo, for example, are offering low cost international transfers.
