Walmart Subsidiary Inks Remittances Deal

Wal-Mart de Mexico y Centroamerica, a subsidiary of Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart Stores Inc., and Bancomer Transfer Services Inc. (BTS), part of BBVA's U.S. operations, have signed an agreement that will enable BTS customers to collect remittances directly at the mega-retailer's stores.

The deal expands the reach of BTS' money transfer system to more than 13,000 payment locations in Mexico. Recipients are now able to collect money sent from the United States at even more locations and with greater flexibility, because the more than 1,100 Walmart stores in Mexico, operating under the Bodega Aurrera, Walmart, Superama and Suburbia banners, are open year-round and have extended business hours in more than 468 locations throughout the country.

"Remittances are an important part of the economy of many families we serve in Mexico," noted Antonio Ocaranza, Wal-Mart de Mexico y Centroamerica's corporate communications director. "This partnership with Bancomer Transfer Services will give our customers an extraordinary way to receive family remittances from their relatives in the United States in an easy, fast, safe manner — and at convenient hours."

"This partnership is obviously a good business decision," added Manolo Sánchez, BBVA U.S. country manager and chairman and CEO of BBVA Compass, "but more than that, it speaks to our abiding goal of building a better future for every person in every community where you see our name. We want to make these kinds of transactions safe and easy so people can then go about the business of living their lives."

In April 2014, remittances to Mexico increased 2.1 percent year over year, according to Mexico's Central Bank.

Houston-based BTS began providing money transfer services to Mexico in 1995, expanding to other key Latin American markets in 2002. The company currently offers consumer money transfer services to 27 countries, with more than 40,000 payment locations.

San Jose, Costa Rica-based Wal-Mart de México y Centroamérica operates in Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico and Nicaragua. Its wide array of business formats includes discount self-service stores, supermarkets, bodegas, hypermarts, membership warehouse and apparel stores that amount to 2,873 locations.