The Western Union Company announced the expansion of its Direct-to-Bank service to include China and Canada. The Western Union Direct-to-Bank service offers account payout options for receivers. China is the newest addition - customers there can now receive money into their bank accounts from the westernunion.com site in the U.K. Western Union money transfers, sent through Direct-to-Bank, can be directed to most bank accounts in China.

This service will be extended to additional sending countries over the next few months. The service is also available to consumers at select Agent locations in 30 countries. The company plans to expand the availability of the Direct-to-Bank service to more Agent locations in more countries in 2013.

Western Union Digital's core customer is the global citizen - someone who has connections and roots in more than one country. This large and growing segment represents an estimated 215 million people who live outside their countries of birth and send money back to their home countries. Large portions of this customer segment are banked and frequently send money to their friends and family for financial support and the Western Union Direct-to-Bank service helps address their needs.